Structure and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Hernia Meshes with Various Weight

Polypropylene( PP) is a kind of stable material with excellent mechanical properties. Meshes made of PP have lots of obvious advantages. In this paper,5 PP hernia meshes with different warp-knitting structures which can be sorted into one light-weight hernia mesh,two standard-weight hernia meshes and two heavyweight hernia meshes were chosen to have a serious of mechanical test,including weight density,thickness,pore size,porosity,tensile strength,bursting strength,stitch tear strength,tear strength and bending rigidity. The respective relationship between mechanical performance and weight density were analyzed. The results revealed that heavy-weight hernia meshes had the biggest thickness( 0. 834 mm),the smallest pore size( 462 μm) and the smallest porosity( 58. 40%). The mechanical performance demonstrated that the tensile strength increased more than 800 N,the stitch tear strength increased more than 40 N,the bursting strength increased more than750 N and the tear strength increased more than 40 N by enlarging the weight density by 100-150 g/m^2. However, heavy-weight hernia meshes had problems of high bending rigidity,unevenness and anisotropy. Standard-weight hernia meshes with 70-140 g/m^2 not only met the demand of the mechanical properties,but also had good flexibility and structure parameters,which could be considered as an ideal hernia mesh.

Polypropylene （PP） is a kind of stable material with excellent mechanical properties. Meshes made of PP have lots of obvious advantages. In this paper, 5 PP hernia meshes with different warp.knitting structures which can be sorted into one Hght.weight hernia mesh, two standard-weight hernia meshes and two heavy- weight hernia meshes were chosen to have a serious of mechanical test, including weight density, thickness, pore size, porosity, tensile strength, bursting strength, stitch tear strength, tear strength and bending rigidity. The respective relationship between mechanical performance and weight density were analyzed. The results revealed that heavy-weight hernia meshes had the biggest thickness （0. 834 mm）, the smallest pore size （462 tim） and the Smallest porosity （58. 40%）. The mechanical performance demonstrated that the tensile strength increased more than 800 N, the stitch tear strength increased more than 40 N, the bursting strength increased more than 750 N and the tear strength increased more than 40 N by enlarging the weight density by 100 - 150 g/m：. However, heavy-weight hernia meshes had problems of high bending rigidity, unevenness and anlsotropy. Standard-weight hernia meshes with 70 - 140 g/m： not only met the demand of the mechanical properties, but also had good flexibility and structure parameters, which could be considered as an ideal hernia mesh.