Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber/boron nitride composites with high neutron shielding efficiency and mechanical performance

• Published in: Advanced composites and hybrid materials 2022-09, Vol.5 (3), p.2012-2020
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wei, Feng, Yao, Althakafy, Jalal T., Liu, Yi, Abo-Dief, Hala M., Huang, Mina, Zhou, Liangchun, Su, Fengmei, Liu, Chuntai, Shen, Changyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ceramics; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Glass; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Natural Materials; Original Research; Polymer Sciences
• ISSN: 2522-0128; 2522-0136
• DOI: 10.1007/s42114-022-00539-7

Neutron shielding material with high shielding efficiency, small density, and flexibility is urgently needed in nuclear plants, aerospace, and healthcare field. In this study, neutron shielding composite of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber (UPEF)/boron nitride (BN)/polyurethane (PU) is fabricated by spraying BN/PU dispersion on UPEF, where UPEF and BN are used to slow and absorb the neutrons, respectively, and PU was used as adhesive matrix, due to that polyethylene (PE) with high content of hydrogen can effectively slow the high-energy neutrons to thermal neutrons through multiple collisions with hydrogen atoms while boron has large capture cross-section for thermal neutrons. The result shows that the neutron transmission factor (I/I 0 ) of the 3.2-mm-thick UPEF/BN/PU composite decreases to 0.28% at a BN content of 20 wt%. In addition, the composite shows excellent mechanical performance with tensile stress of 550–750 MPa. The UPEF/BN/PU composite is proved effective in neutrons shielding, making it excellent candidate in neutron radiation-related field, both as functional and structural material. Graphical Abstract