A new diffuse reflector filament for additive manufacturing of 3D printing finely-segmented plastic scintillator

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel white reflective filament for 3D printing finely segmented plastic scintillators, demonstrating improved optical performance and detector compactness.

Contribution

The development and characterization of a new polycarbonate-based filament loaded with TiO2 and PTFE for enhanced reflectivity in 3D-printed scintillator detectors.

Findings

Lower optical crosstalk compared to previous materials.

Higher light yield in 3D-printed scintillator prototypes.

Feasibility of producing modular scintillator detectors via additive manufacturing.

Abstract

This study presents the development and the characterization of novel white reflective filaments suitable for additive manufacturing of finely segmented plastic scintillators. The filament is based on polycarbonate (PC) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymers loaded with titanium dioxide (TiO$_2$) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to enhance reflectivity. A range of filament compositions and thicknesses was evaluated through optical reflection and transmittance measurements of reflective layers made with the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique. A 3D-segmented plastic scintillator prototype was made with fused injection modeling (FIM) and tested with cosmic rays to assess the light yield and the optical crosstalk. The results demonstrate the feasibility of producing compact and modular 3D-printed scintillator detectors with a performance analogous to standard plastic scintillator detectors. Owing to the improved optical properties of the new reflector filament, a lower light crosstalk and a higher light yield, compared to past works, is obtained.