Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the attenuation properties of epoxy resin and Rhizophora spp. particleboards bonded with epoxy resin as tissue equivalent phantom materials. The calculated linear and mass attenuation coefficients of epoxy resin and Rhizophora spp. particleboards bonded with three different weight percentages of the epoxy resin (5%, 10% and 15%) were compared with theoretical (XCOM) and experimental measurements of human liver tissue and water at the same energy levels. The Am-241 and Cd-109 point sources were used to measure the linear and mass attenuation coefficients of the samples at gamma energies; 26.3, 59.5 and 88.0 keV. The computed tomography (CT) scanner was employed to determine the mean attenuation values (CT number) for the fabricated samples and water at CT tube energy 120 kVp. The linear and mass attenuation coefficients of epoxy resin and fabricated Rhizophora spp. particleboard bonded with 15% of epoxy resin provided excellent agreement to the values of XCOM calculated in the human liver tissue and water, respectively. The CT number results showed that the epoxy resin and the Rhizophora spp. particleboard bonded with 15% epoxy were in a good agreement with those of human liver tissue and water, respectively. Therefore, the overall attenuation measurements of this study verify the applicability of epoxy resin as a phantom material to mimic the human liver in CT examinations and the epoxy-Rhizophora spp. particleboard fabricated with 15% epoxy resin can be used as a tissue equivalent material corresponding to CT energy range.