Optically transparent 3D printed polysiloxane scintillators
AssigneeLawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
InventorsAndrew Neil Mabe, Jason Brodsky, Elaine Lee, Jeremy Lenhardt, Dominique Henry Porcincula, Xianyi Zhang
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Abstract
An ink for forming a scintillator product includes a phenylated siloxane polymer having at least one functional group per molecule for crosslinking, a filler having a refractive index about matching a refractive index of the phenylated siloxane polymer, where the refractive indices are within about 5% of one another, a rheology modifier, and at least one fluorescent dye.
Claims25
An ink for forming a scintillator product, the ink comprising:
- a phenylated siloxane polymer having at least one functional group per molecule for crosslinking;
- a filler, wherein the phenylated siloxane polymer has a defined phenyl content for causing a refractive index of the phenylated siloxane polymer to be within about 5% of the refractive index of the filler;
- a rheology modifier;
- a crosslinker having at least two silane functional groups per molecule, wherein the crosslinker is different than the filler;
- and
- at least one fluorescent dye.
A scintillator product, comprising:
- a three-dimensional (3D) structure having physical characteristics of formation by additive manufacturing,
- wherein the 3D structure has two or more different scintillator materials arranged in a pre-defined pattern,
- wherein one of the scintillator materials in the 3D structure includes a scintillator material comprising a phenylated siloxane polymer, a filler, and at least one fluorescent dye,
- wherein the phenylated siloxane polymer has a defined phenyl content for causing a refractive index of the phenylated siloxane polymer to be within about 5% of a refractive index of the filler,
- wherein the scintillator product is optically transparent.
A method of forming an optically transparent scintillator product, the method comprising:
- extruding an ink for forming a three-dimensional (3D) structure using an additive manufacturing technique, the ink comprising:
- a phenylated siloxane polymer having at least one functional group per molecule for crosslinking,
- a filler, wherein the phenylated siloxane polymer has a defined phenyl content for causing a refractive index of the phenylated siloxane polymer to about match a refractive index of the filler,
- a crosslinker having at least two silane functional groups per molecule, wherein the crosslinker is different than the filler, and
- at least one fluorescent dye,
- wherein the ink is a scintillator material;
- and
- curing the 3D structure for forming the optically transparent scintillator product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.