Tanned leather: A good model for determining hydrogels bioadhesion

The main goal of this work was to study determined factors which influence the adhesion capacity of hydrogels obtained from Carbopol. The adhesive capacity was assessed using a tensile tester measuring adhesive work as the main parameter. In preliminary studies, different parameters were studied to determine their influence on adhesion work (applied force, hydration volume and contact time). To achieve this, Carbopol 940 was used as in previous studies and it showed intermediate adhesion work. It was observed that a decrease in hydration volume and an increase in contact time gave rise to an increase in adhesion work. Thus, from preliminary data, it would be interesting to test the existent relationship between-among adhesion values when different substrates were used (a semisynthetic one and a biological one). The assays was made in different hydration conditions. When experiments were performed using low hydration of the system, correlations showed to be exponential whereas when hydration was increased adhesion work values in both substrates were similar and, therefore, the correlation was virtually linear.