Dielectric properties of 3D-printed materials for anatomy specific 3D-printed MRI coils

[Display omitted] •A method to characterize the dielectric properties of 3D printed materials at MR frequencies.•The method relies on full-wave electromagnetic simulations.•The design and construction of a low-cost subject/anatomy-specific 3D printed RF coil is provided. Additive manufacturing provides a low-cost and rapid means to translate 3D designs into the construction of a prototype. For MRI, this type of manufacturing can be used to construct various components including the structure of RF coils. In this paper, we characterize the material properties (dielectric constant and loss tangent) of several common 3D-printed polymers in the MRI frequency range of 63–300 MHz (for MRI magnetic field strengths of 1.5–7 T), and utilize these material properties in full-wave electromagnetic simulations to design and construct a very low-cost subject/anatomy-specific 3D-printed receive-only RF coil that fits close to the body. We show that the anatomy-specific coil exhibits higher signal-to-noise ratio compared to a conventional flat surface coil.