I need to determine tensile and breaking strength of normal and sutured canine skin specimens using a machine equipped with manual grips. The skin specimens slip and slide out of the grips preventing tensile testing. Does anyone know how to overcome this problem using simple and affordable methods?
you can design an apparatus which is capable of locking your specimen via pin. Then you can grip apparatus.
Try either a) using cyanoacrylate glue to adhere the ends of the skin (just the ends) between two pieces of sandpaper, and then put the sandpapered ends in the clamps, or b) if your clamps are smooth, replace them with clamps that have ridges. I think when I saw this done, the ridged clamps worked ok, but it was difficult to find a balance between clamping hard enough to prevent slipping, and clamping so hard that you cut the skin. Also be aware, if you are making very fine measurements, that gravity creates tension, and the act of screwing down the clamps also often creates additional tension. Finally, dry skin behaves different from wet skin, so figure out whether you need to hydrate (keep the skin from drying out) during the tests.
We have found that pincer grips and manual vise grips that can tighten the specimens without damaging them work the best with skin.
There are also a variety of jaw faces that you can try: https://www.admet.com/tensile-grip-jaw-selection/
And if you need to come up with a solution in-house, I agree with using sand paper.
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