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Plastic Radiation Shielding
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(06-14-2013, 04:51 AM)Sim Koning Wrote: http://www.azom.com/news.aspx?newsID=37134

Apparently, plastic can make for an effective radiation shield.

It has been known since at least the 1940s that materials with a high hydrogen content, such as paraffin and plastics, are very effective at attenuating alpha and beta radiation, and thermal neutrons, but much less so in the case of x-rays and gamma radiation. Apparently, this has not changed appreciably in the intervening seven decades. According to the specifications given at http://www.hybridplastics.com/docs/tds/neushield.pdf for a polyethylene impregnated with gadolinium, 7.6 millimeters of plastic attenuates 1 MeV gamma radiation by 12.3%. While additional thickness would result in greater attenuation, at some point the thickness becomes prohibitive. Radiation with energies greater than 1 MeV (most cosmic rays, for example) will be attenuated even less. So, in general, while plastics can make effective radiation shields, likely design trade-offs will limit their usability in that regard.

Radtech497
"I'd much rather see you on my side, than scattered into... atoms." Ming the Merciless, Ruler of the Universe
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Messages In This Thread
Plastic Radiation Shielding - by Sim Koning - 06-14-2013, 04:51 AM
RE: Plastic Radiation Shielding - by radtech497 - 06-15-2013, 01:57 AM
RE: Plastic Radiation Shielding - by stevebowers - 06-15-2013, 05:02 PM
RE: Plastic Radiation Shielding - by Drashner1 - 06-16-2013, 04:31 AM
RE: Plastic Radiation Shielding - by iancampbell - 06-18-2013, 08:30 AM
RE: Plastic Radiation Shielding - by stevebowers - 06-18-2013, 05:30 PM

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