Improving ultrasound wave control with metamaterial coatings for medical needles
Georgia Kuci defended her PhD thesis at the Department of Mechanical Engineering on March 12th.
Ultrasound is widely used in modern medicine to safely and non-invasively visualize tissues and guide medical procedures. One important application is in needle-based procedures such as regional anesthesia and biopsies, where real-time imaging helps doctors position the needle accurately. However, when a needle is inserted at an angle, ultrasound waves often reflect away from the probe instead of returning to it, making the needle difficult to see. In her PhD research Georgia Kuci explores the use of locally resonant acoustic metamaterials (LRAMs) as a potential coating for medical needles to improve ultrasound wave control and enhance needle visibility in future applications.
LRAMs are a class of engineered materials that interact with ultrasound waves in unique ways. Unlike conventional materials, which reflect waves in fixed directions based on their surface properties, LRAMs contain specifically designed resonators that allow redirection of ultrasound waves at specific angles. This makes it possible to redirect waves back toward the probe. Georgia Kuci demonstrates with this research how engineered coatings could improve ultrasound wave control to enhance imaging quality, making medical procedures safer, faster, and more reliable.
Efficient computational framework
Next to that, George Kuci also introduces an efficient computational framework for analyzing wave behavior in complex multi-layered metamaterial configurations in this research. Traditional simulations for metamaterials are computationally expensive, but Georgia Kuci鈥檚 method reduces computational time by over 98%, making it significantly faster while maintaining accuracy. This makes it easier to explore and refine LRAM-based designs, allowing for faster and more practical evaluation of different configurations.
Practical challenges
While this research remains at a fundamental stage, it also considers practical challenges that would need to be addressed for real-world applications. The study examines factors such as manufacturing feasibility, material selection, and constraints in experimental validation. These insights can be used to further develop and test these engineered coatings in the future.
This research is part of the project SUBMETA of the research programme Materials NL: Challenges 2018.
Title of PhD thesis: . Promotors: Associate Prof. Varvara Kouznetsova and Prof. Marc Geers.