Date of Award

2021

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Dr. Cameron Goodwin

Second Advisor

Dr. Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to build a functional neutron radiography facility. This would consist of a cylindrical collimator that would attach to the beam port of the nuclear reactor at the Rhode Island Nuclear Science Center (RINSC). This collimator would guide a neutron beam to an object. All neutrons that encounter the object for imaging would pass through a scintillator screen in order to produce the photons needed for imaging. A neutron converter imaging block would have to be used to create a dark enough environment to capture an image. All neutrons that missed the object would be stopped by a concrete beam stopper and secondary shielding materials. The scope of this project is very large, so the team was advised to focus strictly on designing a collimator. The team was to create design plans for the rest of the system as well, but focused on the collimator in hopes of creating a functional prototype. Because the project would not be able to be completed in a year, it was intended that each year, one part of the facility is completed. The team was to build a cylindrical collimator consisting of two aluminum shells that would be filled with boron carbide powder, a strong neutron resistor. Because this design was too costly, combined with all around delays from the pandemic, the team was not able to produce a prototype. The team was able to produce a detailed 2D schematic of the collimator, with a corresponding parts and materials list, a simulation of the thermal expansion of the collimator if subjected to the heat of the reactor, and a full 3D printed neutron radiography facility, as a small scale model of the team’s design and how the parts fit in the system. The team originally created a divergent collimator design, in an attempt to create a high length to diameter ratio. As the semester progressed, the team changed the design in attempts to image as large an object as possible; this would entail purposefully increasing the diameter and consequently lower the image quality. The team created a thermal expansion simulation because, originally, the team had a collimator design with an exterior diameter of six inches exactly. If this was machined and tested, the design would have failed due to expansion. Therefore, the team theoretically calculated the thermal expansion of the collimator and performed a virtual simulation in order to properly account for the phenomena. In the years to come, the collimator should be easy to assemble. Future teams should be able to use the 2-D schematic and the parts and materials list effectively to produce a prototype.

Comments

Team Name: Team 12, Neutron Nation

Sponsor: LANL

Sponsor Representative: Carolynn Scherer

Document Reference: MCE-402-012-2021

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