Green and low-carbon upcycling of ludwigite: Prepared shields against nuclear radiation hazards and shielding mechanism

Abstract

The complex composition of ludwigite makes its comprehensive usage difficult. Given the rapid development of ores in nuclear shielding materials, ludwigite was proposed to prepare epoxy resin matrix nuclear shielding composites at room temperature, which could achieve green and low-carbon upcycling. The shielding performance of neutron and gamma-ray sources was evaluated using the 241Am–Be neutron source, the Co-60 gamma-ray source and the Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF). Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the microstructures. Increasing the ludwigite weight and thickness of the shielding composite increases the shielding percentage of the prepared composites. The prepared shielding composites have macroscopic cross-sections of 0.92–1.89 cm−1, which are comparable to SWX-201, which contains 5% boron. Boron absorption and hydrogen elastic scattering are the primary shielding mechanisms for neutron attenuation in 10−11–10−6 MeV. The shielding composites’ gamma-ray shielding performance is comparable to that of water and ordinary concrete. The work is significant not only for using ludwigite but also for the shielding mechanism analysis of complex multi-element composites.