Phase velocity and normalized broadband ultrasonic attenuation in Polyacetal cuboid bone-mimicking phantoms

Abstract

The variations of phase velocity and normalized broadband ultrasonic attenuation (nBUA) with porosity were investigated in Polyacetal cuboid bone-mimicking phantoms with circular cylindrical pores running normal to the surface along the three orthogonal axes. The frequency-dependent phase velocity and attenuation coefficient in the phantoms with porosities from 0% to 65.9% were measured from 0.65 to 1.10MHz. The results showed that the phase velocity at 880kHz decreased linearly with porosity, whereas the nBUA increased linearly with porosity. This study provides a useful insight into the relationships between ultrasonic properties and porosity in bone at porosities lower than 70%.