A method to increase the sensitive range of pressure sensitive film

Pressure-sensitive film is frequently used in biomechanics to document intra- and extra-articular contact pressures. This often involves the contact of two surfaces of varying curvature producing non-uniform pressure distributions. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of using multiple films in such experiments to yield accurate pressure and contact area data. A composite arrangement of film was dynamically loaded using cylindrical indenters of five radii. An analytical model of each indentation was constructed to provide a standard for error analysis. The study showed that several ranges of pressure sensitive film can be used simultaneously to accurately transduce contact pressures arising from loading scenarios that produce contact pressure gradients and contact pressures that involve suprathreshold loading of a given film range.