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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Investigation of the Geometric Accuracy of Proton Beam Irradiation in the Liver

Purpose: To investigate the geometric accuracy of proton beam irradiation to the liver by measuring the change in Hounsfield units (HUs) after irradiation. Methods and Materials: We examined 21 patients with liver tumors who were treated with respiratory-gated proton beam therapy (PBT). The radiation dose was 66 GyE in 12 patients and 72.6 GyE in 9 patients. Image registration and reslicing of the computed tomography (CT) results obtained within 1 month before and 3 months after PBT was performed, referring to the planning CT image. The resliced CT images obtained after PBT were subtracted from the images obtained before PBT. We investigated whether the area of the large HU change was consistent with the high-dose distribution area using the location of the largest change in HU around the tumor (peak) on the subtracted CT image and the 90% dose distribution area of the planning CT image. Results: The number of patients (n = 20) whose left-right peaks were within the 90% dose distribution area was significantly larger than the number of patients whose anterior-posterior peaks and superior-inferior peaks were within the 90% dose distribution area (n = 14, n = 13, p = 0.034, and p = 0.02, respectively). Twelve patients exhibited a peak within the 90% dose distribution area in all directions. Nine of the 11 patients with smaller 90% confidence intervals of the percent normalization of the beam cycle (BC; 90% BC) showed a peak within the 90% dose distribution area in six directions, and this percentage was higher than that among the patients with larger 90% BC (3/10, p = 0.03). Conclusion: The geometric accuracy of proton beam irradiation to the liver was higher in the left-right direction than in the other directions. Patients with an irregular respiratory rhythm have a greater risk of a reduced geometric accuracy of PBT in the liver.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Physiological Imaging-Defined, Response-Driven Subvolumes of a Tumor

Purpose: To develop an image analysis framework to delineate the physiological imaging-defined subvolumes of a tumor in relating to treatment response and outcome. Methods and Materials: Our proposed approach delineates the subvolumes of a tumor based on its heterogeneous distributions of physiological imaging parameters. The method assigns each voxel a probabilistic membership function belonging to the physiological parameter classes defined in a sample of tumors, and then calculates the related subvolumes in each tumor. We applied our approach to regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and Gd-DTPA transfer constant (K{sup trans}) images of patients who had brain metastases and were treated by whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT). A total of 45 lesions were included in the analysis. Changes in the rCBV (or K{sup trans})–defined subvolumes of the tumors from pre-RT to 2 weeks after the start of WBRT (2W) were evaluated for differentiation of responsive, stable, and progressive tumors using the Mann-Whitney U test. Performance of the newly developed metrics for predicting tumor response to WBRT was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: The percentage decrease in the high-CBV-defined subvolumes of the tumors from pre-RT to 2W was significantly greater in the group of responsive tumors than in the group of stable and progressive tumors (P<.007). The change in the high-CBV-defined subvolumes of the tumors from pre-RT to 2W was a predictor for post-RT response significantly better than change in the gross tumor volume observed during the same time interval (P=.012), suggesting that the physiological change occurs before the volumetric change. Also, K{sup trans} did not add significant discriminatory information for assessing response with respect to rCBV. Conclusion: The physiological imaging-defined subvolumes of the tumors delineated by our method could be candidates for boost target, for which further development and evaluation is warranted.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Clinical Application of In-Room Positron Emission Tomography for In Vivo Treatment Monitoring in Proton Radiation Therapy

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of using in-room positron emission tomography (PET) for treatment verification in proton therapy and for deriving suitable PET scan times. Methods and Materials: Nine patients undergoing passive scattering proton therapy underwent scanning immediately after treatment with an in-room PET scanner. The scanner was positioned next to the treatment head after treatment. The Monte Carlo (MC) method was used to reproduce PET activities for each patient. To assess the proton beam range uncertainty, we designed a novel concept in which the measured PET activity surface distal to the target at the end of range was compared with MC predictions. The repositioning of patients for the PET scan took, on average, approximately 2 minutes. The PET images were reconstructed considering varying scan times to test the scan time dependency of the method. Results: The measured PET images show overall good spatial correlations with MC predictions. Some discrepancies could be attributed to uncertainties in the local elemental composition and biological washout. For 8 patients treated with a single field, the average range differences between PET measurements and computed tomography (CT) image-based MC results were <5 mm (<3 mm for 6 of 8 patients) and root-mean-square deviations were 4 to 11 mm with PET-CT image co-registration errors of approximately 2 mm. Our results also show that a short-length PET scan of 5 minutes can yield results similar to those of a 20-minute PET scan. Conclusions: Our first clinical trials in 9 patients using an in-room PET system demonstrated its potential for in vivo treatment monitoring in proton therapy. For a quantitative range prediction with arbitrary shape of target volume, we suggest using the distal PET activity surface.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Assessment of Interfraction Patient Setup for Head-and-Neck Cancer Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Using Multiple Computed Tomography-Based Image Guidance

Purpose: Various image guidance systems are commonly used in conjunction with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in head-and-neck cancer irradiation. The purpose of this study was to assess interfraction patient setup variations for 3 computed tomography (CT)-based on-board image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) modalities. Methods and Materials: A total of 3302 CT scans for 117 patients, including 53 patients receiving megavoltage cone-beam CT (MVCBCT), 29 receiving kilovoltage cone-beam CT (KVCBCT), and 35 receiving megavoltage fan-beam CT (MVFBCT), were retrospectively analyzed. The daily variations in the mediolateral (ML), craniocaudal (CC), and anteroposterior (AP) dimensions were measured. The clinical target volume-to-planned target volume (CTV-to-PTV) margins were calculated using 2.5Σ + 0.7 σ, where Σ and σ were systematic and random positioning errors, respectively. Various patient characteristics for the MVCBCT group, including weight, weight loss, tumor location, and initial body mass index, were analyzed to determine their possible correlation with daily patient setup. Results: The average interfraction displacements (± standard deviation) in the ML, CC, and AP directions were 0.5 ± 1.5, −0.3 ± 2.0, and 0.3 ± 1.7 mm (KVCBCT); 0.2 ± 1.9, −0.2 ± 2.4, and 0.0 ± 1.7 mm (MVFBCT); and 0.0 ± 1.8, 0.5 ± 1.7, and 0.8 ± 3.0 mm (MVCBCT). The day-to-day random errors for KVCBCT, MVFBCT, and MVCBCT were 1.4-1.6, 1.7, and 2.0-2.1 mm. The interobserver variations were 0.8, 1.1, and 0.7 mm (MVCBCT); 0.5, 0.4, and 0.8 mm (MVFBCT); and 0.5, 0.4, and 0.6 mm (KVCBCT) in the ML, CC, and AP directions, respectively. The maximal calculated uniform CTV-to-PTV margins were 5.6, 6.9, and 8.9 mm for KVCBCT, MVFBCT, and MVCBCT, respectively. For the evaluated patient characteristics, the calculated margins for different patient parameters appeared to differ; analysis of variance (ANOVA) and/or t test analysis found no statistically significant setup difference in any direction. Conclusions: Daily random setup errors and CTV-to-PTV margins for treatment of head-and-neck cancer were affected by imaging quality. Our data indicated that larger margins were associated with MVFBCT and MVCBCT, compared with smaller margins for KVCBCT. IGRT modalities with better image quality are encouraged in clinical practice.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

A Fully Automated Method for CT-on-Rails-Guided Online Adaptive Planning for Prostate Cancer Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

Purpose: This study was designed to validate a fully automated adaptive planning (AAP) method which integrates automated recontouring and automated replanning to account for interfractional anatomical changes in prostate cancer patients receiving adaptive intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) based on daily repeated computed tomography (CT)-on-rails images. Methods and Materials: Nine prostate cancer patients treated at our institution were randomly selected. For the AAP method, contours on each repeat CT image were automatically generated by mapping the contours from the simulation CT image using deformable image registration. An in-house automated planning tool incorporated into the Pinnacle treatment planning system was used to generate the original and the adapted IMRT plans. The cumulative dose–volume histograms (DVHs) of the target and critical structures were calculated based on the manual contours for all plans and compared with those of plans generated by the conventional method, that is, shifting the isocenters by aligning the images based on the center of the volume (COV) of prostate (prostate COV-aligned). Results: The target coverage from our AAP method for every patient was acceptable, while 1 of the 9 patients showed target underdosing from prostate COV-aligned plans. The normalized volume receiving at least 70 Gy (V{sub 70}), and the mean dose of the rectum and bladder were reduced by 8.9%, 6.4 Gy and 4.3%, 5.3 Gy, respectively, for the AAP method compared with the values obtained from prostate COV-aligned plans. Conclusions: The AAP method, which is fully automated, is effective for online replanning to compensate for target dose deficits and critical organ overdosing caused by interfractional anatomical changes in prostate cancer.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Comparison of Various Online Strategies to Account for Interfractional Variations for Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: To identify practical techniques to address the large interfractional variations for pancreas irradiation by comparing various used/proposed online strategies. Methods and Materials: The daily computed tomography (CT) images acquired using a respiration-gated in-room CT (CTVision; Siemens) for 10 pancreatic cancer patients treated with image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) were analyzed. The contours of the pancreas and organs at risk on each daily CT set were generated by populating from the planning CT using a deformable registration tool (ABAS; Elekta) with manual editing. Nine online strategies were considered: (1) standard IGRT (ie, IGRT with 0-mm additional margin [AM]); (2) IGRT with 2-mm AM; (3) IGRT with 5-mm AM; (4) IGRT with plan renormalized to maintain 95% planning target volume (PTV) coverage; (5) full-scale reoptimization; (6) reoptimization starting from the original plan; (7) segment aperture morphing (SAM) from the original plan, based on PTV shape change; (8) SAM plus segment weight optimization; and (9) reoptimization starting from the SAM plan. One-way analysis of variance was applied to plan qualities for the 9 strategies to assess statistical significance in difference. Results: The 3 IGRT strategies (1-3) lead to either inadequate PTV coverage or higher doses to critical structures, indicating that the additional margins alone are not adequate to account for the changes. The full-scale reoptimization results in the best plan but requires the delineation of several structures, which is time consuming. The SAM strategy (7) was the fastest one, because it requires delineating only 1 structure (target), and its plan quality was comparable to that for the full-scale reoptimization. Conclusion: Online replanning strategies can lead to either reduced organs-at-risk dose and/or improved target coverage as compared with the current practice of IGRT. The SAM-based online replanning is comparable to full-scale reoptimization and is efficient for practical use.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A Pilot Evaluation of a 4-Dimensional Cone-Beam Computed Tomographic Scheme Based on Simultaneous Motion Estimation and Image Reconstruction

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of a 4-dimensional (4-D) cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) reconstruction scheme based on simultaneous motion estimation and image reconstruction (SMEIR) through patient studies. Methods and Materials: The SMEIR algorithm contains 2 alternating steps: (1) motion-compensated CBCT reconstruction using projections from all phases to reconstruct a reference phase 4D-CBCT by explicitly considering the motion models between each different phase and (2) estimation of motion models directly from projections by matching the measured projections to the forward projection of the deformed reference phase 4D-CBCT. Four lung cancer patients were scanned for 4 to 6 minutes to obtain approximately 2000 projections for each patient. To evaluate the performance of the SMEIR algorithm on a conventional 1-minute CBCT scan, the number of projections at each phase was reduced by a factor of 5, 8, or 10 for each patient. Then, 4D-CBCTs were reconstructed from the down-sampled projections using Feldkamp-Davis-Kress, total variation (TV) minimization, prior image constrained compressive sensing (PICCS), and SMEIR. Using the 4D-CBCT reconstructed from the fully sampled projections as a reference, the relative error (RE) of reconstructed images, root mean square error (RMSE), and maximum error (MaxE) of estimated tumor positions were analyzed to quantify the performance of the SMEIR algorithm. Results: The SMEIR algorithm can achieve results consistent with the reference 4D-CBCT reconstructed with many more projections per phase. With an average of 30 to 40 projections per phase, the MaxE in tumor position detection is less than 1 mm in SMEIR for all 4 patients. Conclusion: The results from a limited number of patients show that SMEIR is a promising tool for high-quality 4D-CBCT reconstruction and tumor motion modeling.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Physics-informed semantic inpainting: Application to geostatistical modeling

A fundamental problem in geostatistical modeling is to infer the heterogeneous geological field based on limited measurements and some prior spatial statistics. Semantic inpainting, a technique for image processing using deep generative models, has been recently applied for this purpose, demonstrating its effectiveness in dealing with complex spatial patterns. However, the original semantic inpainting framework incorporates only information from direct measurements, while in geostatistics indirect measurements are often plentiful. In this work, to overcome this limitation, we propose a physics-informed semantic inpainting framework, employing the Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network with Gradient Penalty (WGAN-GP) and jointly incorporating the direct and indirect measurements by exploiting the underlying physical laws. Our simulation results for a high-dimensional problem with 512 dimensions show that in the new method, the physical conservation laws are satisfied and contribute in enhancing the inpainting performance compared to using only the direct measurements.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Using X-Ray Computed Tomography in Pore Structure Characterization for a Berea Sandstone: Resolution Effect

X-raycomputedtomography (XCT) is a powerful tool for detecting the micro-scale porestructure and has been applied to many natural and synthetic porous media. However, due to the resolution limitations, either non-representative view of the sample or inaccurate results can be produced from the XCT image processing. In this paper, two XCT (micro-CT and CT with synchrotron radiation) with different resolutions of 12.7 μm and 0.35 μm, as well as mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) with a minimum detection limit of 3 nm, were used for Berea sandstone to investigate the effect of detecting resolution on the porestructure. Several key porestructure parameters, including porosity, pore size distribution, pore connectivity, surface area, hydraulic radius, and aspect ratio were analyzed in a manner of quantitative comparison between different resolutions of XCT and MIP. The low resolution XCT can capture the large-pore porosity, while overestimates the pore size and pore connectivity. The high resolution XCT is more accurate in describing the pore shape, porosity, pore size; however, it is not representative since narrower detecting pore size range and small volume represented. A representative element volume related to large-pore porosity and probably large-pore connectivity with diameter and height of 2.8 mm is obtained through scale effect analysis. Therefore, selecting an appropriate resolution should be a compromise between the pore size and the representative element volume for the specific property or process of interest.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2015

Detecting wetland changes in Shanghai, China using FORMOSAT and Landsat TM imagery

Understanding the state of wetland ecosystems and their changes at the national and local levels is critical for wetland conservation, management, decision-making, and policy development practices. This study analyzed the wetlands in Shanghai, a province-level city, using remote sensing, image processing, and geographic information systems (GIS) techniques based on the Chinese national wetland inventory procedure and standards. FORMOSAT imagery acquired in 2012 and Navy nautical charts of the Yangtze estuarine area were used in conjunction with object-oriented segmentation, expert interpretation, and field validation to determine wetland status. Landsat imagery from 1985, 1995, 2000, 2003 and 2013 as well as social-economic data collected from 1985 to 2013 were used to further assess wetland changes. In 2013, Shanghai contained 376,970.6 ha of wetlands, and 78.8% of all wetlands were in marine or estuarine systems. Estuarine waters comprised the single largest wetland category. Between the first national wetland inventory in 2003 and the second national wetland inventory in 2013, Shanghai lost 50,519.13 ha of wetlands, amounting to a mean annual loss rate of 1.2% or an 11.8% loss over the decade. Declines were proportionately higher in marine and estuarine wetlands, with an annual loss of 1.8%, while there was a sharp increase of 1882.6% in constructed water storage areas for human uses. Diking, filling, impoundment and reclamation, which are all attributable to the economic development and urbanization associated with population increases, were the major factors that explained the gain and loss of wetlands. Additional factors affecting wetland losses and gains include sediment trapping by the hydropower system, which reduces supply to the estuary and erodes wetlands, and sediment trapping by the jetties, spur dikes, and diversion bulwark associated with a navigation channel deepening project, which has the converse effect, increasing saltmarsh wetland area at Jiuduansha shoal by three times between 2000 and 2013.

Tian, Bo↗
DOE OSTI2016

Low-Contrast Detail Phantom: Proof of Concept

To investigate the concept of filling the air gaps of the conventional contrast detail phantom (CDP) with various concentrations of contrast media, and to develop a variable level of attenuation-level differential phantoms that could be more appropriate for contrast measurements in some radiology cases.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development and Implementation of an Electronic Learning Module for Volumetric Image-Guided Radiation Therapy

Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) through daily cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has significantly impacted the role of the radiation therapist at our institution; continuing education is crucial to ensure safe practice of technology in the clinical environment. The purpose of this work was to develop and implement an electronic learning (eLearning) module as a yearly refresher for CBCT-practicing radiation therapists.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2017

DINO: Divergent node cloning for sustained redundancy in HPC

Complexity and scale of next generation HPC systems pose significant challenges in fault resilience methods such that contemporary checkpoint/restart (C/R) methods that address fail-stop behavior may be insufficient. Redundant computing has been proposed as an alternative at extreme scale. Triple redundancy has an advantage over C/R in that it can also detect silent data corruption (SDC) and then correct results via voting. However, current redundant computing approaches do not repair failed or corrupted replicas. Consequently, SDCs can no longer be detected after a replica failure since the system has been degraded to dual redundancy without voting capability. Hence, a job may have to be aborted if voting uncovers mismatching results between the remaining two replicas. And while replicas are logically equivalent, they may have divergent runtime states during job execution, which presents a challenge to simply creating new replicas dynamically. This problem is addressed by, DIvergent NOde cloning (DINO), a redundant execution environment that quickly recovers from hard failures. DINO consists of a novel node cloning service integrated into the MPI runtime system that solves the problem of consolidating divergent states among replicas on-the-fly. With DINO, after degradation to dual redundancy, a good replica can be quickly cloned so that triple redundancy is restored. We present experimental results over 9 NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB), Sweep3D and LULESH. Results confirm the applicability of the approach and the correctness of the recovery process and indicate that DINO can recover from failures nearly instantly. The cloning overhead depends on the process image size that needs to be transferred between source and destination of the clone operation and varies between 5.60 to 90.48 s. Here, simulation results with our model show that dual redundancy with DINO recovery always outperforms 2x and surpasses 3x redundancy on up to 1 million nodes. To the best of our knowledge, the design and implementation for repairing failed replicas in redundant MPI computing is unprecedented.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2012

Structural properties of ultrafine Ba-hexaferrite nanoparticles

Crystal structure of ultrafine Ba-hexaferrite (BaFe{sub 12}O{sub 19}) nanoparticles was studied using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), and Moessbauer spectroscopy (MS), to be compared to the structure of larger nanoparticles and the bulk. The nanoparticles were synthesized with hydrothermal treatment of an appropriate suspension of Ba and Fe hydroxides in the presence of a large excess of OH{sup -}. The ultrafine nanoparticles were formed in a discoid shape, {approx}10 nm wide and only {approx}3 nm thick, comparable to the size of the hexagonal unit cell in the c-direction. The HRTEM image analysis confirmed the hexaferrite structure, whereas EDXS showed the composition matching the BaFe{sub 12}O{sub 19} formula. XAFS and MS analyses showed considerable disorder of the structure, most probably responsible for the low magnetization. - Graphical abstract: Left: HREM image of an ultrafine Ba-hexaferrite nanoparticle (inset: TEM image of the nanoparticles); Right: the experimental HRTEM image is compared with calculated image and corresponding atomic model. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Crystal structure of ultrafine Ba-hexaferrite (BaFe{sub 12}O{sub 19}) nanoparticles was compared to the structure of the bulk. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Thickness the discoid nanoparticles was comparable to the size of the hexagonal unit cell in the c-direction. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Considerable disorder of the nanoparticles' structure is most probably responsible for their low magnetization.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Geometrical characterization of perlite-metal syntactic foam

This paper introduces an improved method for the detailed geometrical characterization of perlite-metal syntactic foam. This novel metallic foam is created by infiltrating a packed bed of expanded perlite particles with liquid aluminium alloy. The geometry of the solidified metal is thus defined by the perlite particle shape, size and morphology. The method is based on a segmented micro-computed tomography data and allows for automated determination of the distributions of pore size, sphericity, orientation and location. The pore (i.e. particle) size distribution and pore orientation is determined by a multi-criteria k-nearest neighbour algorithm for pore identification. The results indicate a weak density gradient parallel to the casting direction and a slight preference of particle orientation perpendicular to the casting direction. - Highlights: •A new method for identification of pores in porous materials was developed. •It was applied on perlite-metal syntactic foam samples. •A porosity decrease in the axial direction of the samples was determined. •Pore shape analysis showed a high percentage of spherical pores. •Orientation analysis showed that more pores are oriented in the radial direction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Combined multi-analytical approach for study of pore system in bricks: How much porosity is there?

During the firing of bricks, mineralogical and textural transformations produce an artificial aggregate characterised by significant porosity. Particularly as regards pore-size distribution and the interconnection model, porosity is an important parameter to evaluate and predict the durability of bricks. The pore system is in fact the main element, which correlates building materials and their environment (especially in cases of aggressive weathering, e.g., salt crystallisation and freeze-thaw cycles) and determines their durability. Four industrial bricks with differing compositions and firing temperatures were analysed with “direct” and “indirect” techniques, traditional methods (mercury intrusion porosimetry, hydric tests, nitrogen adsorption) and new analytical approaches based on digital image reconstruction of 2D and 3D models (back-scattered electrons and computerised X-ray micro-Tomography, respectively). The comparison of results from different analytical methods in the “overlapping ranges” of porosity and the careful reconstruction of a cumulative curve, allowed overcoming their specific limitations and achieving better knowledge on the pore system of bricks. - Highlights: •Pore-size distribution and structure of the pore system in four commercial bricks •A multi-analytical approach combining “direct” and “indirect” techniques •Traditional methods vs. new approaches based on 2D/3D digital image reconstruction •The use of “overlapping ranges” to overcome the limitations of various techniques.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Characterization of the porous structures of the green body and sintered biomedical titanium scaffolds with micro-computed tomography

The present research was aimed at gaining an understanding of the porous structure changes from the green body through water leaching and sintering to titanium scaffolds. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was performed to generate 3D models of titanium scaffold preforms containing carbamide space-holding particles and sintered scaffolds containing macro- and micro-pores. The porosity values and structural parameters were determined by means of image analysis. The result showed that the porosity values, macro-pore sizes, connectivity densities and specific surface areas of the titanium scaffolds sintered at 1200 °C for 3 h did not significantly deviate from those of the green structures with various volume fractions of the space holder. Titanium scaffolds with a maximum specific surface area could be produced with an addition of 60–65 vol% carbamide particles to the matrix powder. The connectivity of pores inside the scaffold increased with rising volume fraction of the space holder. The shrinkage of the scaffolds prepared with > 50 vol% carbamide space holder, occurring during sintering, was caused by the reductions of macro-pore sizes and micro-pore sizes as well as the thickness of struts. In conclusion, the final porous structural characteristics of titanium scaffolds could be estimated from those of the green body. - Highlights: •Porous structures of green body and sintered titanium scaffolds was studied. •Porous structures of both samples were quantitatively characterized with micro-CT. •Porous structures of scaffolds could be controlled from the green body. •Shrinkage mechanisms of titanium scaffolds during sintering was established.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗