Radiation Protection Meets Print-to-Deploy Speed
Traditional metal shielding — lead bricks, tungsten weights, boron carbide composites — requires manufacturing infrastructure: casting, machining, annealing. Rapid3DShield skips the factory because these materials don't need sintering to provide radiation protection.
The Fundamental Difference
Filamet™ products are raw materials for sintering. You print, debind, then sinter in a kiln to fuse the metal powder into solid metal. That final solid metal part is what gives you mechanical properties: hardness, strength, electrical conductivity.
Rapid3DShield filaments are finished shielding materials. The moment they're printed and cooled, they're ready to use. The polymer matrix holds the high-Z metal powder (tungsten) or neutron-absorbing filler (boron carbide) in a uniform, stable composite. No kiln. No waiting. No additional processing.
What Gives Shielding Its Power?
Radiation attenuation depends on two things:
- Atomic number (Z): Heavy atoms stop photons. Tungsten has Z=74; lead is Z=82. Both work. Boron carbide works differently—boron captures thermal neutrons through (n,α) reactions.
- Density: More material = more photon interactions. Tungsten at 19.25 g/cm³ delivers high Z in a compact form.
A printed tungsten composite gives you both in one step. The polymer matrix distributes metal uniformly throughout the print, and uniform density is something cast or machined blocks struggle to guarantee.
Why This Matters for Your Application
If you're protecting imaging equipment, medical detectors, or research sensors from stray radiation, you need shielding now, not in three weeks after outsourcing to a machine shop. Print today, install today.
Ready to start? Choose between tungsten for gamma rays or boron carbide for neutrons — then print.