Production of zinc borate reinforcement polymer composite shielding materials and determination of their properties

Advances in the world of technology have enabled the widespread use of radiation in many areas. Though there are important benefits of radiation in different fields, its harms need to be addressed equally. The need to minimize the damage due to radiation has been the subject of many research. Radiation shielding materials are one of the most important subjects in this regard. Depending on the type of radiation, shielding materials may also vary. Properties such as density, non-toxicity, lightness, flexibility, cost and easy availability of the material are effective in the selection of shielding materials. There are various materials that could be considered as shielding materials such as ceramics, glass, steel, concrete and polymers. In this study, the goal was to investigate the shielding properties of zinc borate added polymer composites against neutrons and gamma rays. Within the scope of the study, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 45% zinc borate was added to thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and 5%, 10% and 20% zinc borate was added to polypropylene (PP), respectively. The mass absorption coefficients of the samples were calculated both experimentally and theoretically with the XCOM software at energy values of 31, 59.5, 81, 276, 302, 356, 384, 661.6, 1172 and 1332 keV. Experimental macroscopic cross sections were calculated using neutron dose measurements. In addition, mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and elongation at break were also tested. The obtained results showed that the mass absorption coefficients increased with increasing zinc borate ratio at 31, 59.5 and 81 keV energy values for both TPU and PP samples. No significant effect was observed in terms of absorption coefficients at higher energy values. Although the neutron dose transmission values did decrease due to increasing sample thickness and increasing zinc borate ratio, the reason behind the anomalies at higher energy levels were thought to be the result of inhomogeneous zinc borate distribution in the polymer material. On the other hand, it was observed that the tensile strength and elongation at break characteristics of the samples decreased, while the modulus of elasticity increased with increasing zinc borate ratio. As a result, the analyses and tests carried out showed that zinc borate doped TPU and PP samples have the potential to be used as shielding material for neutron, x-rays and low-energy gamma ray radiation.