Insulating epoxy/barite and polyester/barite composites for radiation attenuation

highlights
• Barite loaded polymer composites were investigated for radiation shielding.
• Some mechanical and physical properties were examined.
• Experimental and theoretical attenuation parameters were studied.
• Experimental and theoretical (MCNP-4C2) results were in good agreement.

A trial has been made to create insulating Epoxy/Barite (EP/Brt) (ρ=2.85 g cm−3) and Crosslinked Unsaturated Polyester/Barite (CUP/Brt) (ρ=3.25 g cm−3) composites with radiation attenuation and shielding capabilities. Experimental work regarding mechanical and physical properties was performed to study the composites integrity for practical applications. The properties were found to be reasonable. Radiation attenuation properties have been carried out using emitted collimated beam from a fission 252Cf (100 µg) neutron source, and the neutron–gamma spectrometer with stilbene scintillator. The pulse shape discriminating (P.S.D) technique based on the zero cross-over method was used to discriminate between neutron and gamma-ray pulses. Thermal neutron fluxes, measured using the BF3 detector and thermal neutron detection system, were used to plot the attenuation relations. The fast neutron macroscopic effective removal cross-section ΣR, gamma ray total attenuation coefficient µ and thermal neutron macroscopic cross-section Σ have been evaluated. Theoretical calculations have been achieved using MCNP-4C2 code to calculate ΣR, µ and Σ. Also, MERCSF-N program was used to calculate macroscopic effective removal cross-section ΣR. Measured and calculated results have been compared and were found to be in reasonable agreement.