Investigating the effect of adding CdO nanoparticles on neutron shielding efficacy of HDPE

Umm-e-Kulsoom, Umm-e-Kulsoom and Shakaib Arslan Gursal, Shakaib Arslan Gursal and Muhammad Shahbaz Khurshid, Muhammad Shahbaz Khurshid and Malik Saif-ur-Rehman, Malik Saif-ur-Rehman and Awais Shahid Minhas, Awais Shahid Minhas and Tariq Yasin, Tariq Yasin and Nasir Mehboob, Nasir Mehboob and Malik Sajjad Mehmood, Malik Sajjad Mehmood (2020) Investigating the effect of adding CdO nanoparticles on neutron shielding efficacy of HDPE. Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 177 (2020). ISSN 0969-806X,

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Abstract

Novel neutron shielding material based on borated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was prepared in this study.
In order to enhance the shielding efficacy of borated HDPE, nano particles of high neutron capture cross section
material i.e. of cadmium oxide (CdO) were used as neutron absorber. The CdO nano particles were prepared with
composite hydroxide mediated (CHM) method and tested with X-ray diffraction to ensure their structural
parameters. The grain sizes of CdO sample obtained from reflection peaks at 2θ = 30.39° and 23.52° were
24.9 nm and 36.1 nm, respectively. The corresponding hkl values and lattice spacing for above-mentioned
reflection peaks were found (111) & (110) and 0.29 & 0.38, respectively. These nano scale CdO particles were
then mixed in HDPE/B4C composite (containing 10% by wt. of B4C) in predetermining concentrations (i.e. 1%,
2%, and 4% by wt.). The admixture were then pressed in sheets and tested for structural stability and neutron
shielding efficacy. The structural stability analysis with FTIR revealed the fact there was no significant alteration
in HDPE structure on addition of CdO. The values of effective mass removal cross sections from neutron shielding
measurements were 0.1567cm2
g-1
, 0.1906cm2
g-1
, and 0.1634cm2
g-1
for composites containing 1%, 2%, and 4% CdO, respectively. Furthermore, among all, composite with 2% CdO has been observed of having best shielding
properties as it contained the appropriate amount of all the constituents. The higher neutron capture cross
section of CdO nano particles was attributed for this significant increase in shielding efficacy of HDPE/B4C/CdO
nano composites as compared to pure HDPE and HDPE/B4C composites.

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