Acoustic Characterization of the Cellulose-coated Perfluorocarbon Droplets based on Phase Velocity Measurements

Sammanfattning: Today, microbubbles are one of the most commonly used ultrasound contrast agents, since their high compressibility results in a strongly scattered signal. Despite this advantage, microbubbles experience limitations by the decreased stability and large diameter. The cellulose nanofiber (CNF) stabilized perfluoropentane (PFC5) droplets have the possibility of eliminating these drawbacks. In order to examine the droplet behavior and scattering ability when exposed to ultrasound, the acoustic response of the droplets is studied and compared with that of microbubbles (MBs). Therefore, this thesis aims to design an experimental set-up and a processing method to determine the phase velocity, bulk modulus and compressibility of the CNF-coated PFC5 droplets. The experimental study of the acoustic characterization uses pulse-echo spectroscopy with an aluminum reflector and seven flat transducers covering the frequency range 0.7 to 14.1 MHz. By using fast Fourier transform, while accounting for the 2πn ambiguity, the phase velocity profiles are obtained. The dispersions within this frequency spectrum are 1391-1487 m/s and 1387-1488 m/s for the concentrations 10 ∙ 106 and 50 ∙ 106 droplets/ml, respectively. These profiles display an increasing phase velocity with frequency and a slight increase in dispersion with concentration. These results agree with theory and studies examining the phase velocity of MBs. The bulk modulus presents values between 3-4 GPa, while the compressibility is 2.7 − 3.2 ∙ 10-10