Dynamic X-ray elastography: A new tool for characterizing soft materials

Dynamic X-ray elastography using propagating shear waves is a novel technique to visualize the spatial distribution of elasticity in soft materials. We demonstrate that it can be applied to a gel sample with a fine structure. We prepared a viscoelastic gel sample with a two-dimensional lattice structure filled with ZrO₂ particles, and applied the technique to map storage and loss moduli. The obtained storage modulus map successfully distinguished the harder lattice structure from the soft gel matrix with a spatial resolution much higher than those of other conventional elastography techniques using magnetic resonance and ultrasound.