Fig. 5.
(A) Average load-stretch curve obtained for collagen gels. The dot indicates the mean failure load and stretch (n=6), with the box around the dot indicating the 95 % confidence interval. (B) The evolution of strain over time for a representative gel undergoing fatigue testing. Strain values were normalized to the strain at failure for that gel. (C) Fatigue behavior of collagen gels. Collagen gels (dots) showed a fatigue life similar to that reported previously for tendon (42, dashed line). A Voronoi network model (solid red line) assuming tendon properties for each fiber, showed a longer fatigue life than the tendon, suggesting that the network structure increased fatigue life at a given normalized stress.