The ATLAS tile calorimeter project

The ATLAS detector at LHC has chosen a hadron barrel calorimeter design with iron as absorber and scintillating tiles placed in planes perpendicular to the colliding beams. Its mechanical layout, component tests, scintillator properties, as well as the radiation hardness are presented. Prototypes have been exposed to particle beams at the CERN-SPS, with energies ranging between 20 and 300GeV. The results obtained without an EM compartment in front are very promising. Very preliminary results from the combined test with the electromagnetic Pb/LAr calorimeter in front show agreement with the stand-alone performance which indicate that TILECAL will achieve ATLAS requirements. (orig.)