Natural Rubber Nanocomposite as Human-Tissue-Mimicking Materials for Replacement Cadaver in Medical Surgical Practice

Abstract

The utilization of human cadaver in means of medical study has been common. Nonetheless, human cadaver brought inevitable problems. Thus a substitute material is necessary to diminish the usage ofa human cadaver. Substitute material needs to heed the potency of Indonesian resources to help the country's development. As the world knows, Indonesia is the world's second largest natural rubber producer. Hence natural rubber composite was chosen as the base material, blends with some silicone rubber. The purpose of this research is to synthesize nanocomposite that has a mechanical characteristic of thehuman tissue. The precursors will be made with some variations include theoptimization type of filler (nanosilica, caolin and CaCO3), and the optimization of filler nanosilica volume fraction. The composition of the materials used is also important to observe. Scattering properties are set by adding titanium dioxide, an inexpensive and widely available scattering agent which yields a wavelength dependent scattering coefficient similar to that observed in tissue in the near infrared. Repeatability for the phantom fabrication process will be presented. This research has produced some materials that have a similar mechanical characteristic with internal human tissue characteristic.