Effect of neutron radiation on the mechanical and thermophysical properties of nanoengineered polymer composites
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Polymer nanocomposites are being considered as future materials to effectively attenuate high energy radiations. The present work addresses effects of neutron radiation on the mechanical properties of lightweight multifunctional polymer composite which were fabricated by dispersing nanoparticles with radiation shielding properties in an epoxy polymer. Three different types of nanoparticles including boron nanopowder, gadolinium, and boron carbide, which are known for excellent radiation absorbing characteristics, were dispersed into epoxy resin to form core sheets for final hybrid sandwich structure. The neutron radiation shielding performance of nanocomposites and their mechanical and thermophysical properties were investigated. The study indicates that the neutron shielding efficiency increased significantly by introduction of nanoparticles. Moreover, the mechanical testing and thermophysical analysis showed that the core materials can retain the structural integrity after they are exposed to the highly thermalized neutron radiation in steady-state mode with a flux of 3 1013 n/cm2/s.
I. INTRODUCTION
High energy radiation poses hazards to the astronauts, spacecraft structural materials, and electronics and is one of the major concerns for long duration space exploration. Exposure to high energy radiation particles not only can result into serious biological damages to crew, such as carcinogenesis, cardiac problems and damages to the neural system, but also can induce damage to the structural materials and electronic components in spacecraft.1–3 High energy particles can interact with materials to cause atomic displacements and electronic excitation, which can severely degrade the critical properties of structural materials such as mechanical, thermal, and optical properties.4–12 One of the main radiation hazards in space comes from neutron and gamma rays generated from the interaction of high energy particles with walls of the structures. These types of radiation are not only observed in the space explorations but also in other industries including nuclear reactors and related facilities, fusion reactors, cyclotrons etc. and can cause potential health hazards for workers and damage the instruments and structural materials.13–15 Current radiation shielding designs are composed of mostly the materials with high charge to mass ratio (Z/A) such as lead and aluminum alloys and are not able to Contributing Editor: Michele Manuel a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] b) This author contributed equally to this work. DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2016.494
block all types of radiation, especially the emission of neutron in the space or in the nuclear laboratories. In addition, there are possibilities of fragmentation of the nuclei of these high Z materials upon high energy radiation and generation of secondary radiations. Therefore, there is an increasing demand and urgent need to develop efficient, lightweight, cost effective multifunctional radiation shielding materials which can provide structural inte
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