Characterisation of 3D Printed Materials for MRI Applications

Motivation: 3D printed materials offer the capability of manufacturing custom phantoms or coil prototypes. While materials for other modalities (such as CT) are widely available, the same cannot be said for MRI. Goal(s): The goal of this project was to characterise a wide range of 3D printed materials for use in MRI. Approach: Using standardised sample sizes, and relaxation property mapping sequences. Results: Some materials, such as Nylon, proved invisible to MRI. Other materials, such as OrganLike, showed relaxation properties similar to those in the brain at 3T. Impact: 3D printing offers the potential to rapidly create low cost, reproducible prototypes for MRI. This work provides an extensive list of the properties of materials, aiding others in narrowing down a material of choice.