Gelatin/Poly (vinyl alcohol)/Inorganic Filler Composites for Phantom Breasts

Abstract The effect of the various inorganic filler (Zn, ZnO, CuO, Co(NO3)2, Fe2O3) on the structural, electronic, atomic, and absorption properties to the performance of composite phantom breast with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder has been studied. The bonding characteristic analyzed from the Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectra and the structural properties in the form of the crystallite size, porosity, and dislocation density determined from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. The atomic, electronic, and absorption ability of composite were analyzed from the irradiation intensity after the X-rays for the energies from 60 keV to 85 keV at 10 mAs passing through the samples. The functional group of C=O, C-H, and C-O show covalent bonding as a cross-linking between atoms from the various filler and the atom from the matrix materials. The crystallite size shows a direct correlation between the linear attenuation coefficient and the mass attenuation coefficient. The linear attenuation coefficient of composite gelatin/PVA/ZnO is 0.255 cm-1, for composite gelatin/PVA/CuO is 0.233 cm-1 shows good for breast phantom, and for composite gelatin/PVA/Zn is 0.343 cm-1 shows excellent characteristics for breast phantom. This study provided a new composite with excellent characteristics as a guide to produce breast phantom.