Radioprotective constructions (screens and shields) against various types of ionizing radiation are an integral part of radiation medicine. With the rapid development of particle therapy and nuclear medicine technologies, including the production of radionuclides in a cyclotron, there is a need for new materials that effectively absorb multimodal or mixed radiation and for new methods for manufacturing adaptive protective structures. Protective constructions against mixed (neutron and gamma ) radiation, which is generated, for example, in the environment of an operating cyclotron target block, and materials used in these constructions are poorly studied. The choice of commercial shielding constructions is limited, they are bulky, not flexible in terms of adaptivity, and expensive.
The main goal of this project is to develop a methodology for additive manufacturing of radiation shielding components that can be flexibly adapted to radiation sources and, utilizing advanced 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies to produce and test experimental radiation shielding constructions from newly developed polymer composites that effectively attenuate multimodal radiation.
It is expected, that the developed methodology and materials will be used to develop additional radiation shielding structures for the cyclotron target assembly (source for mixed gamma and neutron radiation).
Project funding:
Research Council of Lithuania, Prospective R&D projects for Lithuania’s membership at CERN
Project results:
Newly developed 3D printing materials that effectively attenuate mixed beams (neutrons and gamma)
Methodology for the fabrication of adaptive radiation shielding constructions using 3D scanning and additive 3D printing
Experimental model of an adaptive shielding structure with a complex configuration.
Period of project implementation: 2024-09-20 - 2027-12-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
