Effective Shielding Multi-layered Boron Containing Aromatic Polymer Materials for High Energy Radiations

Abstract

Abstract It is always of extreme significance to research materials that can shield astronauts from radiation during space missions. In this study, hydrogen-rich aromatic polymer composites are used as radiation shielding materials, which diminish radiation exposures from solar particle events (SPE) and galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). We used three aromatic materials namely polyetherimide, polysulfone, and polyimide polymers as our shielding materials. Each material will have boron powder added in amounts ranging from 5 to 20 percent by weight. High Charge and Energy TRaNsport (HZETRN) is used to simulate the dose equivalent by particle kinds, Linear Energy Transfer (LET), and Flux analysis for each shielding material for the 2010 solar minimum GCR. For Dose Equivalent by neutrons and alphas particles, Boron-11 containing Polysulfone is more effective than boron-11 Polyetherimide, and Polyimide whereas for protons, Boron-11 Polyetherimide is performance better than boron-11 Polyimide, and Polysulfone. We found that boron-11 isotopes containing polymers performed improved shielding effectiveness. In pure and boron-containing Multi-layered Polymers, Al+Polysulfone strongly shields neutrons and alpha particles. Using a multi-layered method, we found that Polysulfone shields high LET particles more efficiently than Polyetherimide and Polyimide. At Optimal LET, Pure and Al+Polysulfone shield neutrons and alphas particles. In Flux analysis, a significant variation of neutrons flux was observed at 40 g/cm2 in Multi-layered analysis. In addition, boron added multi-layered Polyetherimide reduced the neutrons flux at 100 g/cm2.