Ultrasonic pulse waves propagating through cancellous bone phantoms with aligned pore spaces

To elucidate the propagation phenomena of ultrasonic waves in cancellous bone related to trabecular structure, pulse waves propagating through three cancellous bone phantoms with different skeletal frames have been experimentally observed using a water-immersion ultrasonic technique. Skeletal frames with regularly aligned pore spaces were formed to imitate the orthotropic trabecular structure, using wire gauzes, punched plates and honeycomb ceramics. The propagations of the fast and slow waves, which were clearly observed in the direction of the trabecular alignment of cancellous bone, were investigated with the frame's structures of these phantoms.