Abstract: A non-invasive method for measuring a physical quantity representative of the elasticity of a material, including: determining the phase velocities of the fundamental mode of the various components of a shear wave generated at the surface of the material, along a measurement axis, the set of pairs, each formed by a frequency f, and the phase velocity Vi of the fundamental mode determined for the frequency fi, forming a dispersion curve of the fundamental mode in a measurement direction parallel to the measurement axis, wherein the index i is an order number of the frequency fi and of the phase velocity Vi, and transforming the dispersion curve into a profile of phase velocities as a function of depth, the phase velocity at a given depth being a physical quantity representative of the elasticity of a material at the depth.

Abstract: The invention relates to a non-invasive process for evaluating the quality of one or more dense connective tissue(s) in a patient, comprising the following steps: a) Analyzing the profile of the microrelief of a cutaneous replica of a portion of the skin of said patient by at least one of the following step: a1. visually assessing on picture(s) of said cutaneous replica the line shape and the anisotropy of the lines; and/or a2. Determining, on picture(s) of said cutaneous replica, the roughness index of the microrelief with an optical sensor, b) identifying cutaneous replica of “stage 1”, representative of healthy skins, and cutaneous replica of “stage 2” representative of altered skins, a cutaneous replica of stage 2 being indicative of low quality of the one or more dense connective tissue(s) in the patients body.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a device for characterizing mechanical properties of a material (S) with a low modulus of elasticity, comprising an application surface (3) and a mechanical stressing mechanism (5), said mechanical stressing mechanism comprising: a mobile indenter (6) that can move at least in vertical translation so as to bear substantially normally on said material and on said application surface (3), at least one means (14) for translating said indenter along a vertical axis Z-Z? from a reference position in which the indenter is not in contact with the material (S) and at least one sensor (11) for measuring the load applied by the indenter on the material (S) along a direction normal to the application surface on the material, and at least one position sensor (20) able to determine the vertical position of said indenter (6) with respect to said reference position.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sensor for the quantitative measurement of the feel of a surface, comprising a prehensile envelope, a hollow contact body for bringing into contact with the surface on a sensing zone, first acoustic detection elements to detect noises emitted by the hollow body on contact with the sensing zone, second mechanical detection elements embodied for measurement of the normal pressure or the normal pressure and the rubbing force exerted by the surface on the hollow body. The above is of application in the measurement of the triboacoustic properties of the skin or phanera, textiles, leather, plastic materials or any other material for which the an appreciation of the feel thereof is important.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sensor for the quantitative measurement of the feel of a surface, comprising a prehensile envelope, a hollow contact body for bringing into contact with the surface on a sensing zone, first acoustic detection elements to detect noises emitted by the hollow body on contact with the sensing zone, second mechanical detection elements embodied for measurement of the normal pressure or the normal pressure and the rubbing force exerted by the surface on the hollow body. The above is of application in the measurement of the triboacoustic properties of the skin or phanera, textiles, leather, plastic materials or any other material for which the an appreciation of the feel thereof is important.