Development of an epoxy/carbon fiber composite for radiation attenuation which contains a dispersion of micro and nanoparticles of bismuth trioxide
PEDRO MUNHOZ1, Fernando C. Nascimento1, Leonardo G.A. Silva1, Orlando Rodrigues Junior1, Wilson A.P. Calvo1.
1Radiation Technology Centre, Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN-CNEN), Sao Paulo, Brazil
The objective of the present study was the development of an epoxy/carbon fiber composite with a dispersion of bismuth trioxide (Bi2O3) in the polymeric matrix for application as a low energy photon barrier, as determined by its mass coefficient
For the determination of the mass coefficient attenuation, an irradiator was used as an X-ray source. The radiation detector used a radiation meter with an ionization chamber of 1.8 L Radcal. The ionization chamber was installed at a 2500 mm distance from the source X ray. A collimator was attached to the exit beam for radioprotection, and above this was deposited the composite epoxy/carbon fiber with 2, 4, 6 and 8 % mass concentrations of Bi2O3 nanoparticles and 10, 20, 30 and 40% of Bi2O3 microparticles.
the photon energy used was 48, 65, 82 and 118 keV, with a dose rate of 471, 191, 92.6 and 74.2 μGy.min-1, respectively.
The mass coefficient of the composite as a function Bi2O3 concentration and photon energy are illustrated in Figure 1.
In Figure 2, it can be seen that the ultimate tensile strength of the composite is on the scale of 44 MPa, which is approximately 2.6 times greater than that of lead, at 17 MPa.
It can be concluded that for a concentration of 30% bismuth trioxide in the composite, the mass attenuation coefficient is approximately 77.6% as compared to the attenuation coefficient of lead at an energy of 118 keV.
