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Rapid prototyping of cost efficient X-ray collimators

Khong, J; Speller, R; Moss, R; Dorkings, S; Moss, K; (2019) Rapid prototyping of cost efficient X-ray collimators. Manufacturing Letters , 20 pp. 49-53. 10.1016/j.mfglet.2019.05.001. Green open access

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Abstract

This paper reports on a novel technique for rapid and cost effective manufacture of bespoke X-ray shielding. This technique is particularly well suited for producing prototypes of complex collimators for proof of concept and/or short duration usage. Instead of heavily investing in state-of-the-art 3D metal printing to create X-ray collimators, a conventional plastic 3D printer was used to create a hollow shell of the correct geometry which was filled with tungsten powder as the X-ray attenuating material. In this paper we have applied this technique to produce a complex collimator for energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD), which could not be manufactured using conventional machining methods. We compare the performance of this collimator to a solid tungsten 3D printed example of the same design. EDXRD shows that the two collimators have very similar performance with the backfilled collimator having marginally worse peak resolution in momentum transfer, which is attributed to X-ray transmission through the plastic walls and the much lower packing fraction of the tungsten powder. This technique is widely accessible and is capable of rapid prototyping complicated collimator designs, whilst at 1% the cost of using a tungsten 3D printing technique.

Type: Article
Title: Rapid prototyping of cost efficient X-ray collimators
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.mfglet.2019.05.001
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mfglet.2019.05.001
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Energy dispersive, X-ray diffraction, collimator, Rapid prototyping, 3D printing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10075079
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