Search academic texts

Registration Number

0225U003951, (0125U003423) , R & D reports

Title

3D printing of plastic scintillator based particle detectors.

popup.stage_title

Розробка нових філаментів для 3D-друку на основі пластикових сцинтиляторів, проектування та виготовлення автоматизованого 3D-принтера FIM.

Head

Boiaryntsev Andrii Yu., Доктор технічних наук

Registration Date

18-09-2025

Organization

Institute for Scintillation Materials of National Academy of Science of Ukraine

popup.description1

Preparation of FIM technology for mass production of future particle detectors based on scintillators.

popup.description2

As a result of the 1st stage of the work, new white reflective filaments were developed and studied for use in a 3D printing fine-granularity plastic scintillator detector. For this purpose, a polymer base was selected for creating filaments. The following materials were studied: PC, PMMA, PETG, PES, PSU, PPSU, and others. Due to their performance characteristics, PC (polycarbonate) and PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) were selected. At the 1st stage for creating filaments and further 3D printing of reflective layers of the scintillation detector, into which different concentrations of PTFE and TiO2 were introduced in the PC or PMMA. For these samples, optical (light transmission, reflectivity) and mechanical properties were studied. Optical measurements demonstrated that for PC-based filaments, the optimal formulation consisted of 10% TiO2 + 5% PTFE, yielding a reflectivity of 86.2% at 420 nm with low transmittance (0.55%) at 0.4 mm thickness. For PMMA-based filaments, TiO2 alone (at 15%) was sufficient to achieve even higher reflectivity, reaching 91.95% at 0.2 mm thickness. The addition of PTFE to PMMA did not improve the performance, likely due to the inherently lower light absorption and higher transparency of the PMMA matrix. In such optically transparent environments, multi-component formulations may not yield additional benefit, although this outcome may also depend on specific 3D printing conditions and processing parameters. This work was carried out in ISMA. At ETHZ, two different prototypes, each consisting of a layer of optically-isolated 1x1 cm3 plastic scintillator cubes, were produced with the FIM technique using the reflector filaments produced at ISMA. The two prototypes differ in the reflector filament utilised for the optical isolation of the matrix: PC + TiO2 (10%) and PMMA + TiO2 (10%). The scintillating light was read out with wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers) and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs).

Product Description

popup.authors

Boiaryntsev Andrii Yu.
Karavaieva Nataliia L.
Krech Anton V.
Sibilieva Tetiana H.

popup.nrat_date

2025-09-18