Outstanding thermal neutrons shields based on epoxy, UHMWPE fibers and boron carbide particles

Oussama Mehelli; Mehdi Derradji; Raouf Belgacemi; Slimane Abdous; Abdelmalek Habes; Wenbin Liu

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109837

Outstanding thermal neutrons shields based on epoxy, UHMWPE fibers and boron carbide particles

Appl Radiat Isot. 2021 Oct:176:109837. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109837. Epub 2021 Jun 19.

Authors

Oussama Mehelli¹, Mehdi Derradji², Raouf Belgacemi¹, Slimane Abdous¹, Abdelmalek Habes¹, Wenbin Liu³

Affiliations

¹ UER Procédés Energétiques, Ecole Militaire Polytechnique, BP 17, Bordj El-Bahri, Algiers, 16046, Algeria.
² UER Procédés Energétiques, Ecole Militaire Polytechnique, BP 17, Bordj El-Bahri, Algiers, 16046, Algeria. Electronic address: derradjimehdi1@gmail.com.
³ Key Laboratory of Superlight Material and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China.

PMID: 34166946
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109837

Abstract

Aiming the development of advanced and lightweight thermal neutrons shields, a new hybrid composite was developed from UHMWPE fibers, epoxy and boron carbide (B₄C) particles. The UHMWPE fibres were chosen because of their high hydrogen contents and exceptional mechanical properties. The neutrons shielding tests were performed using an optimized experimental setup at NUR research reactor, Algiers. Overall, the developed materials displayed remarkable neutrons screening performances. Meanwhile, the best performance was recorded at B₄C amount of 20 wt% with a macroscopic cross-section (Σ) of with a 0.313 cm^-1 equivalent to a mean free path (λ) of 2.2 cm.

Keywords: Boron carbide; Neutron shielding; UHMWPE.