Might be interesting to print grip modules for firearms (Sig does the "TXG" series which are tungsten-infused polymer, used for adding mass within the defined shape/volume for competitive shooting/recoil reduction reasons. Due to the design of the firearm, the grip module is just an accessory and not a firearm and thus not regulated, at least under US law. Being able to print custom shapes would be cool. (https://www.sigsauer.com/p320-x-series-txg-grip-module-assem...)
Tungsten for radiation shielding use
11–20 of 65 posts
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#12this sounds more entertaining for 3-d printing things that startle people by being staggeringly heavy rather than things that are actually useful it should be heavier than lead; lead is only 11.3 g/cc, tungsten is 19.3, 75% tungsten would be 14.5, but then the other 25% is petg with sp.gr. ≈ 1 so you should actually get a density of 14.7 but i struggle to imagine cases where using tungsten is a more cost-effective op…
I'd think the public palatability of lead products is one aspect. People don't worry as much about tungsten. I was thinking weights to fit specific items. Model railway wagons, for example, need to be weighted and balanced to operate smoothly, but you have significant size constraints. I threw a bunch of tungsten weights inside a small locomotive to give it extra tractive effort.
yeah but it turns out this is only 4 g/cc
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#13Neat. If I was in dentistry or oncology I'd print a tungsten apron like a suit of armour for kids, or perhaps a nice comfy/adjustable thyroid collar which isn't too tight or tall. With filament at $230 a kilo it might not be economically feasible but it sure would look cool.
Perhaps 3d-printed tungsten filament chainmail?
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#14Interesting! I'm designing the flight computer/electronics of a 2U cubesat for academia, and something like this might work really well for our application. We were considering borated polyethylene but the cost for that is prohibitive. This is perhaps not as efficient in terms of mass-to-protection ratio, but we have plenty more room in our mass budget instead of actual budget. I also like the idea that we may be abl…
Academia? Cubesat projects?
Maybe get the kids to look into using Magnetorquers to get some spin on and half shield with this product .. and you now have a platform for directional gamma ray detection | mapping.
( Gamma counts coming from "over there" will decrease whenever "over there" is masked by the partial shielding )
There are other apps, but that one springs to mind.
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#15Interesting! I'm designing the flight computer/electronics of a 2U cubesat for academia, and something like this might work really well for our application. We were considering borated polyethylene but the cost for that is prohibitive. This is perhaps not as efficient in terms of mass-to-protection ratio, but we have plenty more room in our mass budget instead of actual budget. I also like the idea that we may be abl…
Academia? Cubesat projects? Maybe get the kids to look into using Magnetorquers to get some spin on and half shield with this product .. and you now have a platform for directional gamma ray detection | mapping. ( Gamma counts coming from "over there" will decrease whenever "over there" is masked by the partial shielding ) There are other apps, but that one springs to mind.
Great idea! We do have 3 DoF magnetorquers on board, but I feel like the difference between shield on and shield off might need a very sensitive and directional detector..
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Academia? Cubesat projects? Maybe get the kids to look into using Magnetorquers to get some spin on and half shield with this product .. and you now have a platform for directional gamma ray detection | mapping. ( Gamma counts coming from "over there" will decrease whenever "over there" is masked by the partial shielding ) There are other apps, but that one springs to mind.
Great idea! We do have 3 DoF magnetorquers on board, but I feel like the difference between shield on and shield off might need a very sensitive and directional detector..
It's a timing thing - Australia used a "we built it ourselves" detector with shielding that rotated about the crystal pack to find that missing mining source that hit the news last month.
The detector part (doped crystals + scintillation sensors) is fundamentally undirectional - those pesky gamma come in from any direction.
One side has to be shielded to bias the reading (use Tungsten perhaps) .. and by rotating the entire satellite the shielding direction changes - you now have a bulk data stats analysis challenge, do particular orientations align with counts (at various energy levels) rising or falling.
As alway, have a fiddle with a ground based setup first.
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#17this sounds more entertaining for 3-d printing things that startle people by being staggeringly heavy rather than things that are actually useful it should be heavier than lead; lead is only 11.3 g/cc, tungsten is 19.3, 75% tungsten would be 14.5, but then the other 25% is petg with sp.gr. ≈ 1 so you should actually get a density of 14.7 but i struggle to imagine cases where using tungsten is a more cost-effective op…
If it's only 75% tungsten, I'm figuring it's a tungsten powder. I work with lead all the time but I would not fuck with lead dust. Lead sulfide would be much safer, although studies feeding it to rats did show elevated lead levels.
That said, no metal dust is very nice. Solid lead might be safer than tungsten powder. Maybe you could make an iodinated polymer or use a barium cement.
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#1875% by weight sounds like a lot of tungsten...
But it is only 15% by volume... So to the casual observer, this material is mostly plastic.
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#19Might be interesting to print grip modules for firearms (Sig does the "TXG" series which are tungsten-infused polymer, used for adding mass within the defined shape/volume for competitive shooting/recoil reduction reasons. Due to the design of the firearm, the grip module is just an accessory and not a firearm and thus not regulated, at least under US law. Being able to print custom shapes would be cool. ( https://ww…
The density is only 4 g/cm³.
You'd likely do better just machining it out of steel (5g/cm³, and much cheaper)
Re: Tungsten for radiation shielding use
#2075% by weight sounds like a lot of tungsten... But it is only 15% by volume... So to the casual observer, this material is mostly plastic.
Ah, that explains why its radiation blocking is so much worse tham pure tungsten!