Fig. 1

The pipeline illustrating the processes for producing a fat-containing diffusion phantom. Soybean oil (yellow) and water (blue) were mixed together with a nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) and a coagulant (2% agarose) at 65 °C (a). Fluid was stirred at a speed of 700 revolution per min (RPM) for 2 min and then at a speed of 1,150 RPM for 5 min at 65 °C (b). Glass beads were added with the fluid continuously stirred at a speed of 1,150 RPM for 2 min at 65 °C (c). The mixture was sucked out and gradually instilled into a cylindrical cone (50 mL) using a pipette (d). The cylindrical cone was put in the ice bucket to cool down rapidly to turn the sticky fluid into jelly to keep the homogeneity of all components (e). A phantom comprised by 30 glass-bead-containing fat-water emulsions consisting of six fat fractions multiplied by five glass bead densities was produced and put into a plastic container (f)