Mechanical test methods of biomedical membranes such as used for otolaryngology

Biomedical membranes, such as artificial tympanic membranes, are subject to noncontact internal air pressure. To estimate mechanical characteristics of such membranes, it is necessary to carry out the noncontact pressure test and membranous contact test, in addition to the usual monotonic tensile test, by using a rectangular specimen cut from the membranes. In this paper, these mechanical test methods and results on such biomedical membranes were studied. Some of the authors have already presented the mechanical test methods of cellophane membrane for hemodialysis under applied water pressure. Herein, we are concerned with the mechanical test methods of biomedical membranes such as tympanic membrane, in which gaseous pressure was applied.