环保型钆硼柔性热中子吸收材料特性研究

Characterization of Environmentally Friendly Gadolinium/Boron Flexible Thermal Neutron Absorbing Material

  • 摘要: 本文以聚苯乙烯-乙烯-丁二烯-苯乙烯(SEBS)为基体、以Gd2O3、B4C为功能填料,研制了一种柔性热中子吸收材料。SEM测试结果表明,不同含量的材料中Gd2O3和B4C微米颗粒分布相对均匀;XRD和FT-IR测试结果表明,Gd2O3、B4C与基体SEBS未发生化学反应,属于物理性混合。通过实验和蒙特卡罗模拟进行热中子屏蔽性能验证,对照组材料的实验透射率为31.97%~35.35%,实验组材料的实验和模拟透射率分别为32.11%~36.54%和26.26%~31.31%。对实验组进行了热中子面透射率均匀性测试,结果表明,(10%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS和(30%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS材料的平均透射率分别为34.34%和31.60%,所有采样点的绝对偏差在±0.5%以内,标准差为0.33%和0.26%,离散系数为0.009 6和0.008 2。该柔性材料有效弥补了传统刚性射线屏蔽材料的不足,在核设施异形复杂结构表面包覆防护和可穿戴辐射防护服领域具有潜在应用价值。

     

    Abstract: Generally, lead containing materials, polyethylene or epoxy resin matrix composites, stainless steel or alloy, ceramic or concrete are commonly selected for biological shielding, so as to reduce the neutron or gamma radiations below the limit level. However, these shielding materials are not able to be well attached to the peripheries of nuclear equipments or instruments with complex shapes because of their rigidity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop flexible radiation shielding materials for surface radiation hardening of some irregular structural components. Until recently, the concept of flexible radiation shielding material has aroused great interest of researchers because of their unique characteristics, and the conventional approach to prepare flexible neutron shielding composite is to add nano or micron composite containing elements with high thermal neutron absorption cross section as filler into the flexible polymer matrix. In this paper, a kind of flexible neutron absorbing material was developed by using polystyrene ethylene butadiene styrene (SEBS) as the matrix and Gd2O3 as well as B4C as functional fillers with different doping ratios through melt blending in an internal mixer. The microscopic properties of the material were characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, and FT-IR, and the shielding performance was characterized by thermal neutron transmittance and areal uniformity tests. The results of SEM and EDS indicate that Gd2O3 and B4C micro particles are distributed uniformly in the SEBS matrix, achieving compatibility with SEBS and avoiding the problem of particle aggregation. The XRD and FT-IR results indicate that there is no chemical reaction between Gd2O3, B4C and SEBS to form chemical bond, and it belongs to a physical mixture. The thermal neutron shielding was verified through experiment and Monte Carlo simulation. The experimental transmittance of the control group material is 31.97%-35.35%, while the experimental and simulated transmittances of the experimental group material are 32.11%-36.54% and 26.26%-31.31%, respectively. Up to 6 points were uniformly selected on the surface of the (10%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS and (30%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS materials for the sake of areal transmittance uniformity test. The average thermal neutron areal transmittance of (10%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS and (30%Gd2O3+40%B4C)/SEBS are 34.34% and 31.60%, with absolute deviations of ±0.5% for all points, standard deviations of 0.33% and 0.26%, and dispersion coefficients of 0.009 6 and 0.008 2. Results indicate good uniformities of the materials, thus ensuring uniform absorption of thermal neutron. In summary, (Gd2O3+B4C)/SEBS flexible materials effectively compensate for the shortcomings of traditional rigid radiation shielding materials, and have potential application value in the field of shielding for complex and irregular structures in nuclear facilities and the wearable radiation protection clothing.

     

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