Radiation Shielding Materials

Monolith Performance is a UK-based fabrication and research lab focused on advanced materials and additive manufacturing.

Within a project funded by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the team explored new approaches to developing radiation shielding materials for fusion-related applications.

The objective was to investigate whether composite materials and additive manufacturing could offer a more flexible, efficient, and sustainable alternative to conventional shielding solutions.

Developing shielding materials for nuclear environments comes with strict performance and safety requirements.

In practice, this can involve:

• reliance on dense materials such as steel
• use of subtractive manufacturing processes (e.g. CNC), which can increase material waste and cost
• limited flexibility in design and iteration

At the same time, exploring new material compositions requires: 

• controlled and repeatable processing conditions
• the ability to test multiple formulations quickly
• reliable data to support evaluation and comparison

This can make validation slow, costly, and dependent on external suppliers.