Puncture resistance and tensile strength of skin simulants

This study aims ultimately to quantify the force needed to penetrate human tissue. The results will reduce the subjectivity of expert opinion in stabb ing incidents. They will also aid clinicians in assessing the severity of i njury and help prevent the unnecessary deaths which can occur when this is not fully appreciated. Tensile tests were performed to identify suitable sk in simulants with synthetic chamois and pigskin as candidate materials. Qua si-static penetration experiments were also performed in which a knife blad e penetrated a skin simulant target. Pigskin was found to be much stronger than chamois under tensile load yet the puncture resistance was almost iden tical for the two materials.