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Biological soft tissues and polymers used in biomedical applications (e.g. in the cardiovascular area) are hyperelastic incompressible materials that commonly operate under multi-axial large deformation fields. Their characterisation requires biaxial tensile testing. Due to the typically small sample size, the gripping of the specimens commonly relies on rakes or sutures, where the specimen is punctured at the edges of the gauge area. This approach necessitates of an apron, excess of material around the gauge region.

This work analyses the apron influence on the estimated mechanical response of biaxial tests performed by using a rakes gripping system, with the aim of verifying the test accuracy and propose improved solutions.

In order to isolate the effect of the apron, avoiding the influence of anisotropy and inhomogeneity typical of most soft tissues, homogeneous and isotropic hyperplastic samples made from a …