Fast-, Light-Cured Scintillating Plastic for 3D-Printing Applications

Brian G. Frandsen; Michael Febbraro; Thomas Ruland; Theodore W. Stephens; Paul A. Hausladen; Juan J. Manfredi; James E. Bevins

doi:10.3390/jne4010019

Fast-, Light-Cured Scintillating Plastic for 3D-Printing Applications

Brian G. Frandsen, Michael Febbraro, Thomas Ruland, Theodore W. Stephens, Paul A. Hausladen, Juan J. Manfredi, James E. Bevins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Additive manufacturing techniques enable a wide range of possibilities for novel radiation detectors spanning simple to highly complex geometries, multi-material composites, and metamaterials that are either impossible or cost prohibitive to produce using conventional methods. The present work identifies a set of promising formulations of photocurable scintillator resins capable of neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to support the additive manufacturing of fast neutron detectors. The development of these resins utilizes a step-by-step, trial-and-error approach to identify different monomer and cross-linker combinations that meet the requirements for 3D printing followed by a 2-level factorial parameter study to optimize the radiation detection performance, including light yield, PSD, optical clarity, and hardness. The formulations resulted in hard, clear, PSD-capable plastic scintillators that were cured solid within 10 s using 405 nm light. The best-performing scintillator produced a light yield 83% of EJ-276 and a PSD figure of merit equaling 1.28 at 450–550 keVee.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	241-257
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Engineering
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/jne4010019
State	Published - Mar 2023

Funding

This research was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency under grant HDTRA1136911, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, under Award Number DE-AC05-00OR22725, and the ORNL Laboratory Directed Research Development Program.

Funders	Funder number
ORNL Laboratory Directed Research Development Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Defense Threat Reduction Agency	HDTRA1136911
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
High Energy Physics	DE-AC05-00OR22725
High Energy Physics

Keywords

3D printing
plastic scintillator
radiation detection

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3390/jne4010019

Cite this

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title = "Fast-, Light-Cured Scintillating Plastic for 3D-Printing Applications",

abstract = "Additive manufacturing techniques enable a wide range of possibilities for novel radiation detectors spanning simple to highly complex geometries, multi-material composites, and metamaterials that are either impossible or cost prohibitive to produce using conventional methods. The present work identifies a set of promising formulations of photocurable scintillator resins capable of neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to support the additive manufacturing of fast neutron detectors. The development of these resins utilizes a step-by-step, trial-and-error approach to identify different monomer and cross-linker combinations that meet the requirements for 3D printing followed by a 2-level factorial parameter study to optimize the radiation detection performance, including light yield, PSD, optical clarity, and hardness. The formulations resulted in hard, clear, PSD-capable plastic scintillators that were cured solid within 10 s using 405 nm light. The best-performing scintillator produced a light yield 83% of EJ-276 and a PSD figure of merit equaling 1.28 at 450–550 keVee.",

keywords = "3D printing, plastic scintillator, radiation detection",

author = "Frandsen, {Brian G.} and Michael Febbraro and Thomas Ruland and Stephens, {Theodore W.} and Hausladen, {Paul A.} and Manfredi, {Juan J.} and Bevins, {James E.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors.",

year = "2023",

month = mar,

doi = "10.3390/jne4010019",

language = "English",

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AU - Frandsen, Brian G.

AU - Febbraro, Michael

AU - Ruland, Thomas

AU - Stephens, Theodore W.

AU - Hausladen, Paul A.

AU - Manfredi, Juan J.

AU - Bevins, James E.

PY - 2023/3

Y1 - 2023/3

N2 - Additive manufacturing techniques enable a wide range of possibilities for novel radiation detectors spanning simple to highly complex geometries, multi-material composites, and metamaterials that are either impossible or cost prohibitive to produce using conventional methods. The present work identifies a set of promising formulations of photocurable scintillator resins capable of neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to support the additive manufacturing of fast neutron detectors. The development of these resins utilizes a step-by-step, trial-and-error approach to identify different monomer and cross-linker combinations that meet the requirements for 3D printing followed by a 2-level factorial parameter study to optimize the radiation detection performance, including light yield, PSD, optical clarity, and hardness. The formulations resulted in hard, clear, PSD-capable plastic scintillators that were cured solid within 10 s using 405 nm light. The best-performing scintillator produced a light yield 83% of EJ-276 and a PSD figure of merit equaling 1.28 at 450–550 keVee.

AB - Additive manufacturing techniques enable a wide range of possibilities for novel radiation detectors spanning simple to highly complex geometries, multi-material composites, and metamaterials that are either impossible or cost prohibitive to produce using conventional methods. The present work identifies a set of promising formulations of photocurable scintillator resins capable of neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to support the additive manufacturing of fast neutron detectors. The development of these resins utilizes a step-by-step, trial-and-error approach to identify different monomer and cross-linker combinations that meet the requirements for 3D printing followed by a 2-level factorial parameter study to optimize the radiation detection performance, including light yield, PSD, optical clarity, and hardness. The formulations resulted in hard, clear, PSD-capable plastic scintillators that were cured solid within 10 s using 405 nm light. The best-performing scintillator produced a light yield 83% of EJ-276 and a PSD figure of merit equaling 1.28 at 450–550 keVee.

KW - 3D printing

KW - plastic scintillator

KW - radiation detection

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DO - 10.3390/jne4010019

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JO - Journal of Nuclear Engineering

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ER -

Fast-, Light-Cured Scintillating Plastic for 3D-Printing Applications

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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