Preparation And Properties Of Boron Carbide/Lead Shielding Composites

More and more attentions are paid to the shielding of radiation along with the development of the technology. The shielding of radiation relies on the development and the application of the shielding materials. However, the traditional shielding materials such as concrete and steel plate could no longer meet the request of modern society because of the inefficiency and low-flexibility. Boron carbide is an important shielding composite for its high neutron capture surface, but there will still be gamma ray which is harmful to human along with the shielding of neutron. Lead is a very good composite for gamma ray shielding. So the composite of boron carbide and lead could be a new shielding material. Many researches had been done on the preparation of the shielding material. Nevertheless, the application was limited for its complex preparation, bad mechanical properties and shielding inefficiency. In this paper, two kinds of shielding composites were prepared based on boron carbide and lead. And the matrixes were high polymer and metal, respectively. Moreover, the properties such as mechanical properties and shielding efficiency were also studied. The main contents are given as follows:(1) Preparation of boron carbide/lead high polymer-matrix shielding composites. The shielding composites were prepared by special processes based on boron carbide and lead while the matrixes were A, B and C, respectively. And the tensile strength, elongation, electromagnetic and neutron shielding efficiency were studied.(2) Preparation of boron carbide/lead metal-matrix shielding composites. One kind of shielding composite that metal as matrix was prepared by a series of processes based on boron carbide, lead and metal. And the component, density, mechanical properties and shielding efficiency were studied. The results indicated that the mechanical properties and shielding efficiency of the shielding composite were very good.(3) The feasibility of investment on the project. The cost of investment, profit margin and investment recovery period of on production line were analyzed for the manufacture of boron carbide/lead metal-matrix shielding composite.