Attenuation of Earth’s radiation belt electrons with protective shields based on composite W-Cu

Abstract

For decreasing the radiation effects of the cosmic environment on the electronic components of spacecraft, local protection shields are used. They are manufactured on the basis of materials with high density and large atomic numbers (tungsten, tantalum, the W-Cu composite etc.) and then integrated into the ceramic-and-metal package of electronic components with an insufficient level of radiation resistance. On the basis of the Monte Carlo approach we considered the methods of decreasing the level of the dose absorbed by the crystals of active elements if using the radiation shields based on the W-Cu composite in hybrid metal cases under the action of electrons of a circular orbit with an inclination angle of 30° and an altitude of 8000 km. The electron spectra at the maximum and minimum solar activity were obtained using OMERE 5.3 software. It was established that an increase in the mass thickness of the base and cover of cases with shields up to 1.67 g / cm2 makes it possible to reduce the dose load by 3.5–3.7 times at the minimum and by 3.9–4.1 times at the maximum of solar activity. The optimization of protection by lowering the upper layer of the W-Cu composite to the base to a height of 1.2 mm reduces the absorbed dose by 6.8–9.3 times at the minimum and by 7.6–10.7 times at the maximum solar activity.