Investigating the accuracy of ultrasound viscoelastic creep imaging for measuring the viscoelastic properties of a single-inclusion phantom

Constitutive Equations for Analyzing Stress Relaxation and Creep of Viscoelastic Materials Based on Standard Linear Solid Model Derived with Finite Loading Rate

“…Using an accurate solution form of the standard linear solid model for the analysis is important for successful applications. For example, the standard linear model has been applied in the development of an ultrasound imaging technique called ultrasound viscoelastic creep imaging, which aims to quantitatively evaluate the internal spatial distributions of the viscoelastic properties of materials [ 9 , 10 , 95 ]. In ultrasound viscoelastic creep imaging, a constant uniaxial stress field is produced within the material using either acoustic radiation force or mechanical compression to induce the creep behavior of the material, and then ultrasound imaging is used to measure the creep curve of each pixel of the image.…”

“…The mechanical behaviors of all polymers are viscoelastic, meaning that they exhibit time-dependent mechanical behaviors of both viscous fluids and elastic solids [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. By measuring and analyzing the viscoelastic behaviors (such as stress relaxation and creep) of a polymer when it is subjected to loading, its viscoelastic properties can be quantitatively evaluated [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The viscoelastic properties of polymers have profound impacts on applications since they not only determine the performance and quality of products in relevant industries but also determine the ease and success of manufacturing processes during production [ 1 ].…”

Measurement Accuracy of Ultrasound Viscoelastic Creep Imaging in Measuring the Viscoelastic Properties of Heterogeneous Materials

“…Despite the fact that ultrasound elastography has been widely applied in research to measure the stiffness of various tissues such as breast, liver, and musculoskeletal tissues, its clinical usefulness has not been assured. It is because, in part, the stiffness alone (the single metric that ultrasound elastography measures) could not be sufficient to completely describe the mechanical condition of tissues [14][15]. The stiffness is just a single parameter that describes the combined effect of mechanical properties.…”

“…Changes in the status of tissues due to pathologies lead to changes in both fluid-like and solid-like properties, resulting in changes in viscoelastic properties of tissues [15,[19][20]. In order to more completely evaluate the health status of tissues in terms of their mechanical properties, it is important to measure the viscoelastic properties rather than just the stiffness alone.…”