Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging
Repeatable patient positioning is key to minimising the burden on planning radiotherapy treatment. There are very few materials commercially available which are suitable for use in all common imaging and treatment modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Ray computed tomography (CT) an...
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doaj-2583160bcb5e4a2aa4a8855e7147b5de2020-11-25T03:01:16ZengMDPI AGMaterials1996-19442020-04-01131684168410.3390/ma13071684Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical ImagingRobert H. Morris0Nicasio R. Geraldi1Johanna L. Stafford2Abi Spicer3James Hall4Christopher Bradley5Michael I. Newton6School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKFaculty of Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UKSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKRepeatable patient positioning is key to minimising the burden on planning radiotherapy treatment. There are very few materials commercially available which are suitable for use in all common imaging and treatment modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Ray computed tomography (CT) and radiotherapy. In this article, we present several such materials based on woven natural fibres embedded in a range of different resin materials which are suitable for such applications. By investigating a range of resins and natural fibre materials in combination and evaluating their performance in terms of MRI and X-Ray imaging, we show that a woven cotton material impregnated with a two-part epoxy resin provides a 15% improvement in passage of X-Rays and has no impact on the MRI signal (unlike the 40% MRI signal attenuation from carbon fibre), whilst also retaining a flexural modulus up to 71% of that of carbon fibre. These results demonstrate that natural fibre composites produced using such materials provide desirable properties for use in patient support and positioning devices for multi-modal imaging, without the need to significantly compromise on the strength of the material.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/13/7/1684natural fibre compositemagnetic resonance imagingradiotherapyX-Raywovenmedical imaging |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Robert H. Morris Nicasio R. Geraldi Johanna L. Stafford Abi Spicer James Hall Christopher Bradley Michael I. Newton |
spellingShingle |
Robert H. Morris Nicasio R. Geraldi Johanna L. Stafford Abi Spicer James Hall Christopher Bradley Michael I. Newton Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging Materials natural fibre composite magnetic resonance imaging radiotherapy X-Ray woven medical imaging |
author_facet |
Robert H. Morris Nicasio R. Geraldi Johanna L. Stafford Abi Spicer James Hall Christopher Bradley Michael I. Newton |
author_sort |
Robert H. Morris |
title |
Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging |
title_short |
Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging |
title_full |
Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging |
title_fullStr |
Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging |
title_full_unstemmed |
Woven Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Materials for Medical Imaging |
title_sort |
woven natural fibre reinforced composite materials for medical imaging |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Materials |
issn |
1996-1944 |
publishDate |
2020-04-01 |
description |
Repeatable patient positioning is key to minimising the burden on planning radiotherapy treatment. There are very few materials commercially available which are suitable for use in all common imaging and treatment modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-Ray computed tomography (CT) and radiotherapy. In this article, we present several such materials based on woven natural fibres embedded in a range of different resin materials which are suitable for such applications. By investigating a range of resins and natural fibre materials in combination and evaluating their performance in terms of MRI and X-Ray imaging, we show that a woven cotton material impregnated with a two-part epoxy resin provides a 15% improvement in passage of X-Rays and has no impact on the MRI signal (unlike the 40% MRI signal attenuation from carbon fibre), whilst also retaining a flexural modulus up to 71% of that of carbon fibre. These results demonstrate that natural fibre composites produced using such materials provide desirable properties for use in patient support and positioning devices for multi-modal imaging, without the need to significantly compromise on the strength of the material. |
topic |
natural fibre composite magnetic resonance imaging radiotherapy X-Ray woven medical imaging |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/13/7/1684 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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1724694022439567360 |