2.5.6 Mechanical properties
A uniaxial testing method was conducted to test the mechanical properties of the SA/Gel and A-SA-Gel hydrogel samples. The compressive strength was determined with a WDW-1 universal testing machine with a constant compression speed of 0.2 mm/min at room temperature. The testing dimensions of the samples were of 20 ± 0.5 mm × 20 ± 0.5 mm × 6 ± 0.25 mm. Each experiment was performed in triplicate. The stress-train curve of the samples were measured and plotted. In addition, the tensile strength of SA/Gel and A-SA-Gel hydrogel samples were also tested according to the manufacturer’s instructions.