L1 – Biophysics - Viscoelasticity

 Polymer plastics, almost all biological materials, and metals at high temperatures—that
exhibits gradual deformation and recovery when they are subjected to loading and
unloading.
 The response of such materials is dependent upon how quickly the load is applied or
removed, the extent of deformation being dependent upon the rate at which the
deformation- causing loads are applied.
 This time-dependent material behaviour is called viscoelasticity.
 Viscoelasticity is made up of two words: viscosity and elasticity. Viscosity is a fluid
property and is a measure of resistance to flow. Elasticity, on the other hand, is a solid
material property  a viscoelastic material is one that possesses both fluid and solid
properties.
 For an elastic material, the relationship between stress and strain can be expressed in
the following general form:

which states that the normal stress σ is a function of normal strain ε

only.

 For a linearly elastic material, stress is linearly proportional to strain, and in the case of
normal stress and strain, the constant of proportionality is the elastic modulus E (Young
modulus) of the material, thus the formula for elasticity being:

, where:
 σ=sigma/unitary force
 ε =relative elongation compression
 E= constant = Young modulus.

 Young’s modulus/ elastic modulus (E) = determines the stiffness of the structure in
response to applied loads. As stresses increase, Young’s modulus may no longer remain
constant but decrease, or the material may either flow, undergoing permanent
deformation, or finally break.
 An important characteristic of the material properties of skeletal connective tissues is
that they display properties of both elastic and viscous materials and so are known as
“viscoelastic.”
 The mechanisms responsible for these viscoelastic behaviours in soft connective tissues
likely include the intrinsic viscoelasticity of the solid phase of the tissue arising from
intermolecular friction between:
 the collagen, elastin, and proteoglycan polymeric chains;
 deformation of these molecules;
 and other complex intermolecular interactions.
 For biological tissues that contain significant amounts of water, viscoelasticity also
results, in part, from the interactions of the water with the proteins, specifically, the
frictional drag the water creates when it flows through the porous ECM.
 Biological tissues are structurally complex and have complex mechanical behaviour in
response to loading:

1. biological tissues are anisotropic, which means that their strength properties are
different for each major direction of loading.
2. the nature of the protein fibres and amount of calcification all determine the
mechanical response.
3. most soft connective tissue components of muscle, tendons, and ligaments have
another region in their load-deformation graph.
 The initial increase in deformation with little increase in force before the elastic region is
called the toe region. The toe region corresponds to the straightening of the wavy
collagen fibre in connective tissue (Carlstedt & Nordin, 1989). After the toe region, the
slope of the elastic region will vary depending on the rate of stretch  tendons (and
other biological tissues) are not perfectly elastic but are viscoelastic.
 Viscoelastic means that the stress and strain in a material are dependent on the rate of
loading, so the timing of the force application affects the strain response of the
material.
 Note that a high rate of stretch results in a higher stiffness than a slow stretch.
 Muscles and tendons also have increasing stiffness with increasing rates of stretch.
 The viscoelasticity of muscles and tendons has great functional significance:
 A slow stretch will result in a small increase in passive resistance (high
compliance) from the muscle
 A rapid stretch will result in a fast increase in passive resistance (high stiffness)
from the muscle.
 This is one of the reasons why stretching exercises should be performed slowly, to
minimize the increase in force in the muscle–tendon unit (MTU) for a given amount
of stretch.
 There are other important properties of viscoelastic materials: creep, stress relaxation,
and hysteresis.
 a) Creep is the gradual elongation (increasing strain) of a material over time when
placed under a constant tensile stress.
b) Stress relaxation is the decrease in stress over time when a material is elongated to
a set length.
- For example, holding a static stretch at a specific joint position results in a
gradual decrease in tension in the muscle from stress relaxation.
- If you leave a free weight hanging from a nylon cord, you might return several
days later to find the elongation (creep) in the cord has stretched it beyond its
initial length.
- Creep and stress relaxation are nonlinear responses and have important
implications for stretching and risk of injury in repetitive tasks.
- For example, work postures that stretch ligaments, reducing their mechanical
and proprioceptive effectiveness, increase joint laxity and likely increase risk of
injury (Solomonow, 2004).
c) Hysteresis is the property of viscoelastic materials of having a different unloading
response than its loading response. Hysteresis also provides a measure of the
amount of energy lost because the material is not perfectly elastic.

Lecture pictures

a) Inside – Inertial process – the elastic part does not return to its original form straight
away.
b) Outside – reaches a plateau, abrupt start => tissue has returned to its initial volume very
rapidly.
c) Decremental exponential -> combination between a) & b).
d) Real tissue/ muscle -> similar to c); c)->b) -> exponential curve with the same coefficient.
 o CEP – elastic parallel compound
o CES – elastic series compound
o CV – viscous compound
o Maxwell compound  in series  CES + CV
o Voigt compound  in parallel  CEP + CV

 The simplest forms of empirical models are obtained by connecting a spring and a
dashpot together in parallel and in series configurations.
 Mechanical models are often used to discuss the viscoelastic behaviour of materials.
 A linear spring is supposed to produce instantaneously a deformation proportional to
the load.
 A dashpot is supposed to produce a velocity proportional to the load at any instant.
 Since a dashpot behaves as a piston moving in a viscous fluid, the above-named models
are called models of viscoelasticity.
 Springs and dashpots constitute the building blocks of model analyses in viscoelasticity.
 Springs are used to account for the elastic solid behaviour
 Dashpots are used to describe the viscous fluid behaviour.
 It is assumed that a constantly applied force (stress) produces a constant deformation
(strain) in a spring and a constant rate of deformation (strain rate) in a dashpot.
 The deformation in a spring is completely recoverable upon release of applied forces,
whereas the deformation that the dashpot undergoes is permanent.
(a) Maxwell model

 In the Maxwell model, the same force is transmitted from the spring to the dashpot.
This force produces a displacement in the spring and velocity in the dashpot.
 A body that obeys a load-deflection relation like that given by Maxwell's model is said to
be a Maxwell solid.
 For the Maxwell solid, the sudden application of a load induces an immediate deflection
by the elastic spring, which is followed by "creep" of the dashpot.
 On the other hand, a sudden deformation produces an immediate reaction by the
spring, which is followed by stress relaxation according to an exponential law.
 (b) Voigt model

 For the Voigt model, the spring and the dashpot have the same displacement.
 For the Voigt solid, a sudden application of force will produce no immediate deflection,
because the dash pot, arranged in parallel with the spring, will not move
instantaneously.
 Instead, a deformation will be gradually built up, while the spring takes a greater and
greater share of the load. The dash pot displacement relaxes exponentially.

Kelvin - Voigt

 The Kelvin–Voight model is a system consisting of a spring and a dashpot connected in a

parallel arrangement.
 If subscripts “s” and “d” denote the spring and dashpot, respectively, then a stress s
applied to the entire system will produce stresses σs and σd in the spring and the
dashpot.
 The total stress applied to the system will be shared by the spring and the dashpot such
that:

 As the stress s is applied, the spring and dashpot will deform by an equal amount
because of their parallel arrangement.
 Therefore, the strain e of the system will be equal to the strains εs and εd occurring in
the spring and the dashpot:
 Mechanical stress in a tissue can be:
a) Deformation  splits into elongation &
compression
b) Torsion/ Twisting  when opposing force
is applied on both ends.
c) Shear  definitive type of mechanical
stress = irreversible;
d) Bending  can break (i.e. bone)

 Mechanical devices – modify the

force, its strength etc.
 Simple mechanical devices =
articulations/joints
 Ligaments = actioned by a force
 Device = a lever
 F = fascicule
 Ligaments = more viscous than
elastic; gel state in a viscous
continuous state.
 Resistance = 1 for 1. (compact bone)
 Resistance increases:
 1.7 for 2.
 3.5 for 3.
 9.3 for 4.