Dependences of ultrasonic properties on frequency and trabecular spacing in trabecular-bone-mimicking phantoms.

The dependences of ultrasonic properties on the frequency and the trabecular spacing were investigated in 20 trabecular-bone-mimicking phantoms consisting of cellular copper foams. The strong slow waves were consistently observed in the signals transmitted through all of the phantoms. The frequency-dependent phase velocity and attenuation coefficient of the slow wave were measured at frequencies from 0.7 to 1.3 MHz. The phase velocity decreased approximately linearly with increasing frequency while the attenuation coefficients increased with increasing frequency. The phase velocity increased monotonically with increasing trabecular spacing from 1337 to 2931 μm while the attenuation coefficient decreased with increasing spacing.