The use of 3D printing for studying the influence of ionizing radiation on electronic components

Abstract

The application of additive technology gives a designer more freedom in designing and defining the optimal product design. Also, it is possible to make a model with different materials that have different mechanical properties in order to meet different requirements in different places inside and outside of the part. In this paper, a 3D printer Wanhao Duplicator, type i3 plus, made in the People's Republic of China, was used for the realization of the elements of a mechanical mounting system. It is a desktop 3D printer with a maximum printable area of 200 x 200 x 180 mm3, nozzle diameter of 0.1-0.4 mm, and printing speed of 10-100 mm/s (see Figure 3). For the realization of the model, the chosen material was ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) in the form of a filament (diameter 1.75 mm, manufacturer Wanhao). ABS is an amorphous polymer with the following features: excellent mechanical properties, resistance to elevated temperatures, and resistance to shocks. On the Wanhao printer, the prescribed distance between the nozzle and the plate is 0.1 mm. This is the minimum thickness of a single printed layer in the xy plane. The diameter of the melted thread is 0.1 mm, which is very thin, allowing for a very dense construction of the print along the z axis. All these parameters are essential for the quality of the print. 3D printing technology enabled the custom design and fabrication of a mechanical system intended to be placed in an irradiation room, in order to hold the component whose electric characteristics are being examined. The irradiation room may contain one or more sources of ionizing radiation. Each irradiation room may have a different way of mounting the component under test. Since it is necessary to study a specific electronic component with different ionizing radiation sources (gamma and X-ray), at different dose rates, and located in different irradiation rooms, designing a custom mounting system for each irradiation room is necessary. The cost of making a mechanical mounting system using 3D printing technology is significantly lower compared to other production methods. Thus, the creation of a system for each irradiation room individually becomes more economical. Creating such a system for each irradiation room allows much easier and more accurate positioning of the component, which reduces the error in calculating the dose that the component receives during irradiation. Each mechanical system should allow the installation of printed circuit boards of different sizes, on which the tested electronic components are located. Also, the material from which the mounting system is made must not affect the component during the experiment. Materials used in 3D printing have a negligible effect on the reflection or scattering of high-energy photons because they do not contain atoms with heavy nuclei.