Epoxy resin characterization for imaging phantom: X-ray, textural, and mechanical properties

A study of Epoxy resin (EP) material characterization was performed to define the best composition of EP material in imaging phantom. The characterization consisted of X-ray imaging, textural, and mechanical properties. In X-ray imaging, we analyzed three variations of kVp and mAs (40kVp, 2mAs, 50kVp, 6mAs and 60kVp, 8mAs) parameters to investigate image quality. In texture analysis, we calculated statistical textural properties to quantify EP structural distribution in First-order and Second-order texture analysis. In mechanical testing, we performed tensile testing to measure the resistance of the EP material to breaking under tension. The results show that X-ray imaging setting of 50kVp, 6mAs gave the best image quality. The First-order and Second-order texture analysis experiments revealed that the X-ray imaging setting had the tendency of affecting the resulted texture features. Mechanical testing confirmed that the addition of CaCO3 decreased the tensile strength of EP imaging material.