Mechanical properties of layered poly (ethylene glycol) gels

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels have become a popular material for biomedical applications because of their versatility in use and design. As these gels are readily crosslinked under UV, microfabrication techniques have been investigated to manufacture complex three dimensional structures to better mimic the in vivo environment. This work investigated whether a layering technique to fabricate gels offered sufficient strength between the layers to perform similarly in mechanical testing to unlayered gels. Two mechanical tests were performed: tensile tests and peel tests. The tensile tests, which examined sample gels whose test sections were crosslinked for different durations, demonstrated no statistical differences in elastic modulus between sample and control gels. As expected, a statistical increase in the elastic modulus was found with increased PEG concentration. Comparison of the yield stress between samples and controls illustrated differences with total crosslinking duration, which may be due to the decreased molecular weight of the chains with decreased crosslinking time. In peel tests, no statistical differences of maximum peel force were found between samples and controls. However, an increase in the maximum peel force was found with increasing concentration of PEG. Overall, this study demonstrates that the layering process described for the PEG gels has minimal impact on the tested mechanical properties of the system. As mechanical properties are critical to the design of tissue engineered devices, these results demonstrate that this fabrication method may be appropriate for further study as a scaffold for complex cellular systems.