Physical Characteristics of Soft Tissue Phantom from Silicone Rubber Based Vulcanization System

Abstract

Phantom from silicone rubber base material has been synthesized without glycerin and with additional glycerin of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. The type of Silicone rubber used is Room Temperature Vulcanized (RTV) 52 with a vulcanization system at room temperature. The concentration of catalyst is 5% from silicone rubber. Sample has characterized by using physical testing, Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) and elastic modulus measurements. Physical testing result shows that phantoms have low degradation and can be applicated in a long time. FTIR data shows a phantom structure is poly (dimethylsiloxane) that has Si-CH3 bond at wavenumber 1261 cm-1 and 802 cm-1 and the Si-O-Si siloxane group at wavenumber 1024 cm-1. The elastic modulus values of phantom are 244 kPa for without glycerin, 210 kPa for 10% glycerin and 126 kPa for 20% glycerin. From the data indicated phantoms has range of the liver elastic modulus value at 0.6-4000 kPa. It means that phantom can be used as a substitute for the soft tissue of the human liver.