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First published online November 14, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 3677-3681 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.023218
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The effect of humidity on the fracture properties of human fingernails

Laura Farran1, A. Roland Ennos2 and Stephen J. Eichhorn1,*

1 Materials Science Centre, School of Materials, Grosvenor Street, University of Manchester, M1 7HS, UK
2 Faculty of Life Sciences, Jackson's Mill, PO Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK


Figure 1
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  		Fig. 1. (A) Schematic diagram of a human fingernail showing the dorsal (upper), intermediate (middle) and ventral (lower) layers. (B) Schematic diagram of a nail clipping where the dotted lines indicate an example of a sample taken for clipper testing and L and P are the lateral and proximal directions, respectively.

 

Figure 2
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  		Fig. 2. Moisture content of human fingernails as a function of the relative humidity (RH). Error bars are standard deviations from the mean. Data were fitted using an exponential relationship of the form y=A1exp(x/t1)+y0 where A1=0.8% RH, t1=23.2% RH and y0=5.5% RH; R2=0.9.

 

Figure 3
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  		Fig. 3. (A) A typical load–displacement curve for a clipper test and (B) the work of fracture values for nail samples tested in both the proximal and lateral directions at a number of humidity levels. Groups denoted by the same character are not significantly different from each other at P<0.05 according to Tukey's post-hoc tests. Error bars are standard deviations from the mean.

 

Figure 4
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  		Fig. 4. Scanning electron microscope image of a torn nail sample fractured in the lateral direction.

 

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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008