Effectiveness of using Polyethylene and 5% Borated Polyethylene for Radiation Shielding in Spacecraft

Abstract

Polyethylene composites are good absorbers of low energy neutrons that can find applications as structural material inside spacecraft. Polyethylene and 5% borated polyethylene fabricated using conventional polymer processing techniques were evaluated for radiation shielding properties. Count rate variation of thermal neutrons was observed experimentally by placing sheets of polyethylene and 5% borated polyethylene of variable thickness in between an Americium-Beryllium source and He-3 detector and then compared with simulation results obtained by modelling the experimental setup using Monte Carlo n-Particle (MCNP) code version 4c. MCNP results verified the experimental findings that showed 5% borated polyethylene provides much improved radiation shielding compared to neat polyethylene.