Modeling and Testing the Biomechanical Protection Afforded by Cyanoacrylate Skin Protectants

Introduction: The cyanoacrylate and related glues (i.e. “super glues”) have been used medically for lacerations and other injuries. Newer formulations have been developed with properties which enable these adhesives to be used as a protective layer for the skin. These new layers are expected to affect the coefficient of friction between the skin and other surfaces as well as to serve as a “stent” to further strengthen the skin and protect it from sheer stress induced tears.

Materials and Methods: Two commercially available skin protectants were chosen to model and test variations in the coefficient of friction of the surface and the added resilience to sheer stress. One of these products creates a layer of pure cyanoacrylates (pure), while the other includes an inert polymer (mixed). Previous data on the extent of continuous coverage, layer thickness, and layer’s retained adhesiveness(1) were used to model the expected impacts on friction and sheer stress.

Results: The initial simple mechanics models anticipate that the thinner layer provided by the mixed formulation would not provide as much lateral stress relief as the formed by the pure cyanoacrylates. However, a larger impact on strain relief differences is anticipated to be due to the sporadic coverage of the mixed product; since these un-coated regions would not be expected to have any protection at all. Finally, sheer stress can only accumulate if the contact surfaces remain in contact. The retained adhesiveness of the mixed product would reduce any potential protection afforded by allowing the surface to “slide”; decreasing the amount of protection.

Conclusions: The initial mechanics of materials model anticipates major differences in performance on the basis of layer thickness, extent of coverage, and the residual adhesiveness of one product. Additional empirical testing is on-going to validate whether the model accurately predicts differences in skin protection.