| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥130,000 (Direct Cost: ¥100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥30,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥260,000 (Direct Cost: ¥200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥60,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Gel scientists are facing challenges in providing synthetic connective tissues that serve a predominantly biomechanical role in the body, such as articular cartilage, semilunar cartilage, tendons and ligaments. However, in order to replace the natural tissues with hydrogels, a number of significant engineering questions should be addressed, such as the provision of low surface friction and wear, a suitable elastic modulus, and high mechanical strength, both in vivo and in vitro. The high mechanical strength hydrogel, containing 60-90% water, exhibit a fracture strength as high as a few to several tens of megapascal and show high wear resistance due to their extremely low coefficient of friction. These gels might open new era of soft and wet materials as substitutes for articular cartilage and other tissues. To take advantage of the toughness mechanism of such gel and explore its possibility for engineering application, the computational model of such gel has been constituted.
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