Material Stress on Bone FDA’s research is helping the medical community understand the response of medical devices and their constituent materials to applied stress for both pre-market evaluations and post-market reported adverse events. Materials being studied include metals and polymers, biological materials, and materials used in tissue-engineered scaffolds. Though the spectrum of relevant materials is broad, common stress analysis principles can be applied to evaluate their behavior. FDA has the ability to measure mechanical properties ranging from the tensile strength of sutures and medical glove materials to the fatigue strength of total joint prostheses and cardiovascular stents. For more information, go to www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm242...