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Characterisation of Elastic and Acoustic Properties of an Agar-Based Tissue Mimicking Material

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Abstract

As a first step towards an acoustic localisation device for coronary stenosis to provide a non-invasive means of diagnosing arterial disease, measurements are reported for an agar-based tissue mimicking material (TMM) of the shear wave propagation velocity, attenuation and viscoelastic constants, together with one dimensional quasi-static elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio. Phase velocity and attenuation coefficients, determined by generating and detecting shear waves piezo-electrically in the range 300 Hz–2 kHz, were 3.2–7.5 ms−1 and 320 dBm−1. Quasi-static Young’s modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio, obtained by compressive or shear loading of cylindrical specimens were 150–160 kPa; 54–56 kPa and 0.37–0.44. The dynamic Young’s and shear moduli, derived from fitting viscoelastic internal variables by an iterative statistical inverse solver to freely oscillating specimens were 230 and 33 kPa and the corresponding relaxation times, 0.046 and 0.036 s. The results were self-consistent, repeatable and provide baseline data required for the computational modelling of wave propagation in a phantom.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [EP/H011072/1 and EP/H011285/1].

Conflict of interest

No benefits in any form have been or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    M. P. Brewin, D. J. Mehta & S. E. Greenwald

  2. Clinical Physics, Barts Health NHS Trust, 56-76 Ashfield Street, London, UK

    M. J. Birch & J. W. Reeves

  3. BICOM (Brunel Institute of Computational Mathematics) and Mathematics, Brunel University, London, UK

    S. Shaw, C. Kruse & J. R. Whiteman

  4. Center for Research in Scientific Computation, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    S. Hu, Z. R. Kenz & H. T. Banks

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  1. M. P. Brewin
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Correspondence to M. P. Brewin.

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Associate Editor Agata A. Exner oversaw the review of this article.

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Brewin, M.P., Birch, M.J., Mehta, D.J. et al. Characterisation of Elastic and Acoustic Properties of an Agar-Based Tissue Mimicking Material. Ann Biomed Eng 43, 2587–2596 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-015-1294-7

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