Effect of Strain Rate on the Tensile Material Properties of Human Placenta

Automobile crashes are the largest cause of injury death for pregnant females and the leading cause of traumatic fetal injury mortality in the United States. Computational models, useful tools to evaluate the risk of fetal loss in motor vehicle crashes, are based on a limited number of quasistatic material tests of the placenta. This study presents a total of 64 uniaxial tensile tests on coupon specimens from six human placentas at three strain rates. Material properties of the placental tissue were evaluated at strain rates of 0.07/s, 0.70/s, and 7.00/s. The test data have average failure strains of 0.34, 0.36, and 0.37, respectively. Failure stresses of 10.8 kPa, 11.4 kPa, and 18.6 kPa correspond to an increase in strain rate from 0.07/s to 7.0/s. The results indicate rate dependence only when comparing the highest strain rate of 7.0/s to either of the lower rates. There is no significant rate dependence between 0.07/s and 0.70/s. When compared with previous testing of placental tissue, the current study addresses the material response to more strain rates as well as provides a much larger set of available data. In summary, tensile material properties for the placenta have been determined for use in computational modeling of pregnant occupant kinematics in events ranging from low impact activities to severe impacts such as in motor vehicle crashes.