Gamma radiation shielding property of continuous fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composite containing functional filler using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

• MCNP model of continuous fiber reinforced composite containing filler for gamma radiation shielding was established. • The effects of filler size and distribution, fiber type and their stacking order on μ were illustrated. • The experimental results confirmed the XCOM and MCNP simulation results. Functional filler modified fiber reinforced polymer composites are promising structural/radiation shielding materials in application fields of nuclear technology. In this work, MCNP simulating models of epoxy resin matrix composites containing shielding micro-fillers (tungsten oxide and boron carbide) and continuous fiber for gamma radiation shielding were established by Lattice and Universe features in MCNP. The effects of filler size and uniformity of dispersion, types of filler and fiber, stacking order of composite layers on liner attenuation coefficient ( μ ) and mass attenuation coefficient ( μ m ) were investigated using MCNP simulation. The corresponding shielding mechanisms were discussed. Furthermore, typical kinds of composites were prepared by hot-press process and their μ were tested. The numerical results show that μ decreases more significantly with large filler size and uneven dispersion in low-energy gamma rays. For fibers, μ is proportional to density independent of element type of fiber. Besides, stacking order has negligible effect on μ . All MCNP results are in good agreements with the calculation data from XCOM and the experimental values, which demonstrates the validity of the proposed modeling method. Thus, this simulation model can be used to design and evaluate radiation shielding composites with complex component and microstructure.