Preparation And Properties Study Of X-Ray Shielding Rare Earth/Polymer Composite Fibers

Lead and lead oxid are wildly used as X-ray shielding materials. These materials with the shortcoming of toxicity,weak X-ray absorption area and strong scattering of low energy X-ray.In this issue,x-ray shielding rare eare/polypropylene composite fibers were studied.The new composite has a low density than lead material,the new lead-free materials are recyclable and easily processed.In this paper, Rare earth/PP shielding fibers filled with different contents of rare-earth have been prepared by melt spinning. The fibers are characterized by the Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy(XRD), scanning electron micrographs(SEM). Short fibers are compression- molded for the test of lead equivalent. The results show that, when the rare earth content is less than 60 wt%, rare earth can be dispersed in the PP matrix with nano-scale, and x-ray shielding performance of the fibers enhanced with the increase of content o f rare-earth.Rare earth/PP/TPU fibers have been prepared by melt spinning with different composition ratios of PP and TPU. While rare earth/TPU shielding fiber was prepared by removing off some of PP matrix phase from the blend fiber in presence of xylene. The fibers are characterized by infrared spectroscopy tester(FT-IR),differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),X-ray diffraction(XRD),thermogravimetric analyzer(TG) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and so on. Short fibers are compression- molded for the test of lead equivalent. The results show that, rare earth can be dispersed unevenly in the TPU matrix with nano-scale and x-ray shielding performance of the fibers is the best when the composition ratio of PP/TPU increased to 60/40.In order to improve the compatibility between PP and rare earth, three kinds of organic acid, benzoic acid and maleic acid were used as ligands to prepare earth complexes. The protective properties of /PP composite protective fiber for rare earth complexes have been studied.With the same amount of rare earth,x-ray shielding performance of rare earth/PP shielding fibers are better than rare earth complexes/PP shielding fibers,x-ray shielding performance of rare earth/TPU shielding fibers are better than rare earth/PP shielding fibers by comparison.With 23% amount of rare earth, unit thickness lead of the high rare earth-filled / PP composite fiber is 0.013 mmPb, unit thickness lead of RE / PP / TPU composite protective fiber greater than 0.02 mmPb, unit thickness lead of rare earth complexes / lead PP fiber composite less than 0.01 mmPb. Thus, x-ray shielding performance of rare earth / PP / TPU fiber is best.