High-Pressure Reinforced Vessel, produced by Additive Manufacturing, to be used as a gas target for the measurement program at n_TOF -- Multiple Argon Experiments (MArEX)

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-pressure reinforced vessel made via additive manufacturing for gaseous argon targets in neutron interaction experiments, demonstrating its strength and the effectiveness of finite element modeling for stress prediction.

Contribution

It presents a novel high-pressure vessel produced by additive manufacturing, reinforced with carbon fiber, and validated through experimental testing and finite element simulations.

Findings

Vessel withstands high operating pressures successfully.

Finite element model accurately predicts stress behavior.

Design enhances safety and reliability for neutron experiments.

Abstract

The n_TOF collaboration has expressed interest in developing transmission experiments with liquid argon (LAr) and gaseous argon (GAr) to improve the understanding of neutron propagation and capture in Ar. This topic is relevant to both nuclear and particle physics, as LAr is widely used in neutrino experiments, dark matter searches and other applications. Despite its widespread use, neutron interactions on Ar are still poorly characterized. In this context, the Multiple Argon Experiments (MArEX) initiative aims to address these gaps by providing detailed measurements of neutron and Ar interactions, including resolved resonance parameters and radiative capture widths, across an unprecedented energy range from 1 eV to 200 MeV. As part of MArEX research activities, this paper presents the development of an innovative High-Pressure Reinforced Vessel (HPRV) for GAr targets, produced by Additive Manufacturing (AM) and reinforced with carbon fibre (CF). The experimental results confirmed the capability of the vessel to withstand high operating pressure without any issues and the capability of the Multi-layers Finite Element Model (MLs-FEM) to simulate and predict the stress behaviour and the operation limit of the vessel.