Additive manufacturing in radiation shielding design: Production of ulexite-doped polymers with DLP technology, structural and physical properties.

The rapid advancement of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies has significantly expanded their potential applications such as sensors and detector technology. In this study, the gamma-ray shielding performance of ulexite-doped composite resins fabricated via Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing was experimentally investigated to evaluate radiation attenuation capacity. Composite resins containing different ulexite loadings (0, 1, 3, and 5 wt%) were exposed to gamma rays at energies of 356, 662, 1173, and 1333 keV to evaluate their attenuation characteristics. The physicochemical properties of the composite resins were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. Additionally, mechanical performance was assessed through compressive and tensile strength measurements. The results demonstrated that increasing the ulexite ratio enhanced the shielding capacity, as evidenced by increased linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) and corresponding decreases in half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP). For instance, at 356 keV the LAC value increased from 0.0360 cm for the pure resin to 0.0451 cm with 5 wt% ulexite. This improvement is attributed to the increased density and effective atomic number of the composite resins, which promote photon-matter interactions. DLP printing enabled a homogeneous distribution of ulexite within the resin matrix and allowed precise control over composite resin fabrication, further contributing to enhanced shielding performance. These findings suggest that ulexite-doped DLP-printed composite resins have potential as effective radiation shielding materials, particularly against low- and medium-energy radiation. For higher energies, improvements in material density and thickness may be required.