LEGO® Block Structures as a Sub-Kelvin Thermal Insulator

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 19642 - 4
• Main Authors: Chawner, J. M. A., Jones, A. T., Noble, M. T., Pickett, G. R., Tsepelin, V., Zmeev, D. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.12.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 3-D printers; 639/766/25; 639/766/930; Acrylonitrile; Composite materials; Conductance; Conductivity; Experiments; Heat conductivity; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Resistance thermometers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Styrene; Thermal conductivity
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55616-7

We report measurements of the thermal conductance of a structure made from commercial Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) modules, known as LEGO® blocks, in the temperature range from 70 mK to 1.8 K. A power law for the sample’s thermal conductivity κ  = (8.7 ± 0.3) × 10 −5 T   1.75±0.02  WK −1 m −1 was determined. We conclude that this ABS/void compound material provides better thermal isolation than well-known bulk insulator materials in the explored temperature range, whilst maintaining solid support. LEGO blocks represent a cheap and superlative alternative to materials such as Macor or Vespel. In our setup, <400 nW of power can heat an experimental area of 5 cm 2 to over 1 K, without any significant change to the base temperature of the dilution refrigerator. This work suggests that custom-built modular materials with even better thermal performance could be readily and cheaply produced by 3D printing.