Definition of test parameters for dynamic mechanical testing of polymeric implant materials

The selection of appropriate test conditions is of critical importance in mechanical testing of biomaterials. In particular the definition of dynamic test conditions is requiring high efforts. In this work, a thermoplastic semicrystalline polymer was characterized regarding mechanical properties by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Timetemperature- superposition (TTS) of dynamic mechanical data provides an efficient method for the experimental design of follow-up studies. Our focus was to provide test conditions for cyclic tests, which correspond to viscoelastic materials. The results show, that the test temperature for dynamic mechanical fatigue tests, as an indicator of mechanical modification for viscoelastic materials, should necessarily remain below the onset temperatures of storage modulus and loss modulus. Moreover, changes in material characteristics due to varying frequencies should be considered when constructing a master curve for the evaluation of test frequencies. Therefore, TTS is particularly beneficial for the rapid determination of test parameters for accelerated material examination.