System and method for the measurement of mechanical properties of elastic materials

A device for measuring certain mechanical properties of an elastic material, comprising:

• a) chamber means for applying an increasingly negative pressure over time to an area of such material, such area including indicia for facilitating measurement of deformation of such area;
• b) pressure measurement means for measuring the pressure in such chamber means as a function of time;
• c) camera means for obtaining a sequence of views of such area over time;
• d) digitizer means for generating a digital representation of each of such views;
• and
• e) processor means for determining a strain value from each such digital representation and for correlating each such strain value with a pressure measurement corresponding to the same point in time to provide a stress-strain relationship.

A method of measuring the mechanical properties of an elastic material, comprising the steps of:

• a) marking such material with indicia facilitating tracking of any expansion of such material during application of negative pressure to such material;
• b) applying an increasingly negative pressure over time to an area of such material having such indicia to cause such material to expand over time;
• c) measuring the pressure applied to such area as a function of time;
• d) obtaining a sequence of views of such area over time;
• e) generating a digital representation of each of such views;
• and
• f) determining a strain value from each of such digital representation and correlating each such strain value with a pressure measurement corresponding to the same point in time to provide a stress-strain relationship.