Petronthermoplast offers high-performance materials specifically developed for neutron shielding made of thermoplastics, laminated densified wood and glass fibre reinforced material. These materials have different hydrogen contents for decelerating fast neutrons, are available with boron or lithium additivation depending on the shielding material used and are suitable for a wide range of continuous operating temperatures.
Thermoplastics
Lignostone® H II/2/30-HB
Duratom
The materials are available with various hydrogen contents, making them ideal for decelerating fast neutrons in applications with different requirements.
Polystone® D nuclear and Polystone® M nuclear have a hydrogen content of 13 – 14 %, one of the highest hydrogen contents of any solid material for neutron shielding available in the market.
Depending on the material, you will receive indivi-dual additivation of boron or lithium for absorption of thermal neutrons.
All materials are highly resistant against high-energy radiation, giving them an extremely long service life.
Polystone® D nuclear (0.96 g/cm³), Polystone® M nuclear (0.93 g/cm³), Lignostone® H II/2/30-HB (1.37 g/cm³) and Duratom (1.8 g/cm³) have a very low density. This facilitates easy handling during processing and construction.
Depending on the material, easy processing is possible by means of sawing, cutting, milling and gluing.
In power plants and research reactors, in diagnostic medicine and safety engineering various types of rays, such as X-rays, gamma rays or neutron rays, are used or created in various processes and applications. If X-ray radiation or gamma radiation meet matter, they lose their energy, mainly through interaction with the electron shells of atoms. The higher the atomic number, the more electrons there are in each atom. For this reason, materials such as lead are used for shielding against X-rays or gamma rays.
As neutrons do not interact with the electrons, they only lose very little energy while passing through materials such as lead. For this reason, hydrogenous materials are used to decelerate neutron rays, as the mass of neutrons and hydrogen nuclei is practically identical, maximising ener-gy transfer in a collision. This is why materials with a high hydrogen content are suitable for decelerating fast neutrons, turning them into low-energy, thermal neutrons.
These thermal neutrons can then be eliminated through collision with elements with a high absorption cross section, such as boron or lithium.
The performance and service life of a neutron shield are influenced by various factors:
These factors must be taken into account in order to select the right material for neutron shielding.
Our neutron shielding materials are specifically adapted to the high requirements of various applications and used as neutron shields in numerous fields.
Examples:
UHMW-PE facing pads shielding neutron radiation
