Mechanical behavior of fetal dura mater under large deformation biaxial tension.

The mechanical behavior of fetal dura mater was investigated by means of a biaxial tension test designed to simulate the constraints imposed on the membrane by the cranial bones. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical results obtained by using two published strain energy functions: one defined by Mooney and Rivlin (MR) and the other by Skalak, Tozeren, Zarda and Chien (STZC). The latter constitutive relations fit the experimental results consistently well. The STZC stiffness values from this series of tests are compared with those from membrane inflation tests performed previously and reported elsewhere by the authors.