Polyurethane Elastomer—A Low-Cost Artificial Epidermal Skin

Abstract

The biggest challenge the surgeons are facing today is the immediate restoration of skin at the burnt part. In third-degree burns, the entire epidermal and dermal layers of the skin are damaged. Immediate restoration of skin is necessary to prevent infection at the burnt part. However, in some cases wherein a large percentage of the body is burnt, presently used grafting technique fails, which led to the development of a synthetic substitute for skin. Integra, the widely used artificial skin substitute, has two layers as of healthy skin—epidermal layer made of silastic and dermal layer. The disadvantage with silastic is that it loses its edges upon loading, leading to infection and subsequent death. This paper deals with suggesting an alternative material to silastic with sufficient strength and low cost. Dermal layer is kept as it is. Coupled field analysis for two compressive loads of 0.5 and 1.25 N and outside environment temperatures of 25 and 60 °C has been carried out on various materials which include butyl rubber, neoprene rubber, isoprene rubber, and polyurethane elastomer. The maximum stress for these materials under the above-said conditions is calculated. Then, the factor of safety is calculated for all the materials. On comparison of the factor of safety, it is observed that the polyurethane elastomer has the highest factor of safety under the considered working conditions. Subsequently, the cost analysis is also done for these materials, and it is observed that the polyurethane elastomer has 48.3% lower cost than silastic. These results suggest polyurethane elastomer as the best low-cost alternative for silastic.