Scintillators materials when crossed by ionising particles produce a scintillation light, generally proportional to (function of) the energy of the interacting particles, that can be detected with proper photosensors.
In order to match the photosensor optical detection efficiency the scintillators are tuned to produce light typically in the ultraviolet and/or visible energy range.
More in general, according to the applications, the materials are chosen in order to maximise different parameters, such as time response, light yield, detection probability, shape and cost.
Organic scintillators consist of organic molecules (the primary dopant) and eventually a wavelength shifter (the secondary dopant), homogeneously dispersed in a transparent polymeric matrix, generally consisting of polyvinyltoluene (PVT) or polystyrene (PS).
The main advantages of organic materials are: fast time response, flexibility in manufacturing and low cost.
Nevertheless, commercial plastic scintillators are not suited for very customized thin structures while, up to know, the 3D printer technique (metallic, ceramic and polymeric) exploited for the mechanical structures of the detectors, allows for high precision manufacturing (tolerances of few tens of µm).
The 3DIT project is a feasibility study dedicated to the research and development of plastic scintillators in polymeric matrices obtained by means of additive manufacturing.
The research group of SBAI has considerable experience in the field of new organic scintillators development, documented by publications, conference communications and international patents.
The collaboration of SBAI with CREF and INFN Roma personnel, largely experienced in the field of synthesis by means of 3D-printing technology of transparent polymeric matrices, will be extremely fruitful.
With the 3DIT project the collaboration will prove the concept of organic scintillators additive manufacturing.
The innovation of the 3DIT research project is linked to the possibility of obtaining homogeneous dispersions of doping scintillators in transparent resins in order to obtain solid active detector 3D printed, with the double advantage of avoiding chemical polymerization processes and the possibility of obtaining objects of the desired shape by eliminating the need for subsequent machining.
The additive manufacturing technology allows to fully exploit the potentiality of making innovative organic scintillators easily tunable to different properties (concentration, time response, light yield) according to the specific applications.
On the other hand, 3D print technology allows to modify the geometry of the active material obtainable and to integrate it according to the mechanical/physical constraints. These peculiarities are fundamental to ensure the optimization in terms of detector and geometry efficiencies.
The characterisation studies of the VeroClear base are of great interest to the resin and 3D printer manufacturer, who already see a considerable market prospects that could be further extended.
The definition of optimized chemistry and geometry, supported by a complete thermomechanical and radiation hardness characterization would open new frontiers both from an experimental and industrial point of view.
The feasibility of an additive manufacturing of plastic scintillator will be investigated by 3DIT: it will be possible to imagine a multi-material 3D process, opening the way to multiple applications, from the particle physics full detectors up to military, security and medical devices realisation.