Particle Size-Dependent Pulverization of B4c and Generation of B4c/STS Nanoparticles Used for Neutron Absorbing Composites

A review on neutron shielding performance of nano-composite materials

“…There are several studies on the introduction of new nano-composites or nano-filled materials for neutron shielding (10,(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) . In most of these investigations, multiple factors have been analyzed including: (1) size of filler particle, (2) concentration of filler (fraction of weight), (3) composite's thickness, (4) energy of neutron beams, (5) neutron attenuation coefficient and (6) half and tenth values.…”

“…The studies show that the interaction probability between thermal neutrons and the particles increases as the particle size decreases. In this regard, the employment of nano-sized particles would find a superior place among the fillers used for enhancement of shielding property of material against thermal neutrons (10,12,25,(29)(30)(31)(32) . Moderation length of thermal neutrons in nano-structured materials closely related to absorption and scattering cross section of neutrons by individual nucleus.…”

“…Rezaeian et al (25) indicated that the addition of nanoclay to the polymer matrix leads to an improvement in the mechanical and thermal properties of the resultant nanocomposite. In this study, neutron-shield materials of polyethylene, borated polyethylene and nano-composites of epoxy/clay/B4C and epoxy/ clay/B4C/carbon fiber were employed to investigate the effectiveness of the neutron shielding nanocomposites in comparison with liquid neutron shield (ethylene glycol mixed with water) for a dual-purpose cask (DPC) of Bushehr's Water Reactor, nuclear-power-plant spent fuels.…”

Tailoring the morphology through alkali treatment: Dynamics of pattern formation

“…Liu et al [29] have reported the use of sodium hydroxide for improving the level of exfoliation efficiency. The paper betells methods of tuning the morphology of material through alkali (sodium hydroxide-NaOH) treatment on boron carbide (BC) sample as an example for enhancing the effective surface area through liquid-phase exfoliation for potential surface area dependent applications [30][31][32][33][34]. For this, the previously reported multilayered hollow microspheres of boron carbide are systematically subjected to exfoliation.…”