2.2.4. Mechanical Properties

Mechanical properties were assessed using a texture analyzer (TA-XT plus, Stable Microsystems, Enco, Spinea, Italy) equipped with a 1 kg load cell and A/TG tensile grips [19]. Rectangular portions (3 × 1 cm) of each scaffold (thickness ~100 μm) were kept vertical by means of two grips, the lower one fixed and the upper one movable at a constant rate of 0.5 mm/s. Dry or hydrated scaffolds were stretched up to break and the force was recorded as a function of the movable grip displacement.

The force at break was recorded and elongation % was calculated as follows:

$$E\% = 100 \times (L\_{\text{break}} - L\_0) / L\_{\text{break}}.\tag{1}$$

where Lbreak = the distance of the two grips at scaffold breaking and L0 = the initial distance of the two grips.

Moreover, the Young's modulus (mN/cm2) was calculated as the slope of the initial linear portion of force vs. grip displacement.
