A detailed investigation of gamma and neutron shielding capabilities of concrete doped with bronze and boron carbide

Abstract

Shielding capacities of gamma and neutron radiations of concrete samples with bronze addition and boron carbide at different rates were investigated within the scope of this study. In order to examine the gamma radiation shielding capacities of the produced bronze doped concrete samples, linear attenuation coefficients mass attenuation coefficients, half thickness values layer, one-tenth thickness values layer, effective atomic number and radiation protection efficiency parameters were analyzed using experimental, theoretical (WinXCOM) and simulation (GEANT4 and FLUKA) codes. The gamma radiation shielding capacities of the produced concrete samples were investigated at different energies ranging from 59.5 to 1332.5 keV. The results showed that increasing the amount of bronze in the produced sample attenuated more amount of gamma comparing to the samples that had less bronze. The best sample among the produced concretes was found to be the sample that doped with 50% bronze. Then, different proportions of boron carbide (B4C) were substituted into the sample content (50% bronze) to produce a new concrete doped with bronze and B4C. The neutron shielding abilities of the new concrete samples produced in this way were investigated with the GEANT4 and FLUKA simulation codes. Using different thicknesses and energies the neutron shielding property of the samples was analyzed to test neutron transmission. The results showed that the sample doped with 20% boron carbide was the best attenuator against neutron radiation.