EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TO STUDY THE MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF IRRADIATED ACRYLONITRILE BUTADIENE STYRENE FABRICATED VIA FUSED FILAMENT FABRICATION

摘要

Polymers are widely used in nuclear power plant(NPP) components and in the storage of radioactivematerials. Radiation induced polymer degradation is aknown challenge to the lifetime of components. Additivemanufacturing (AM) provides a unique capability to costeffectively replace used parts to key NPP components,thereby extending the life of commercial NPP and reducingmaintenance costs and reactor down time. The study aimsto obtain an understanding of the proton radiation impacton the mechanical performance of fused filamentfabrication (FF) acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (FF-ABS).The study addresses the effect of proton radiation damageat 40 MeV and high-level proton doses throughexperimental evaluation of both mechanical performanceand material characteristic changes. Preliminary resultsshow that pristine material conforms to published researchon FF-ABS. Additionally, there is no evidence oftemperature induced crosslinking or chain scission due tothe 3D printing process.