How it Works
Samples and Consultation
If you would like to examine the physical appearance and characteristics of shielding materials before specifying them, please contact us. We will send small samples to you free of charge. If you need assistance in selecting an appropriate shielding material please do not hesitate to contact one of our shielding engineers.
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How does composite shielding work?
Most radiation fields are combinations of different kinds of radiation. The radiations of most significance are fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, primary gammas and secondary gammas. Shieldwerx composite shielding materials are designed to attenuate these types of radiation.
Fast Neutrons
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Fast Neutrons are most effectively shielded by hydrogen. Shieldwerx composite shielding materials maximize the hydrogen content to slow fast neutrons to thermal and then absorb the thermal via boron or lithium additives. Fast neutrons are slowed to thermal energies by collision with hydrogen atoms. Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and iron also slow fast neutrons by inelastic scattering at the higher energies.
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Thermal Neutrons
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Thermal neutrons can be attentuated by the presence of high thermal neutron cross-section materials such as boron, lithium, or cadmium.
Primary Gamma Rays
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Primary gamma rays are best shielded with lead or other high-density materials. With the continuing contamination and disposal issues related to lead, Shieldwerx offers lead-free materials to replace lead in many of these applications.
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Secondary Gamma Rays
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Secondary gamma rays with energy of 2.2 MeV are created as the result of the capture of thermal neutrons by hydrogen. These capture-gamma rays can be minimized by adding boron or lithium. Gamma rays resulting from capture of neutrons by boron have energy of only 0.42 MeV, which reduces the shielding necessary.
Custom Sizing
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Unique problems often require unique solutions. While most of our shielding products can be cut to size, or shaped using conventional woodworking tools, some solutions require special molds or material shapes not easily made from sheets or rods. Our CAD designers and team of local machine shops can produce custom molds that allow material casting to customer specifications, or allow milling or turning of most of our polyethylene-based neutron/gamma shielding materials.
If you feel the modifications you need can't be done in-house, contact us for a quote on custom work.
Custom Concentrations
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In addition to the standard compositions, the additives and percentages can be varied over a wide range to meet specific needs. Shieldwerx can custom fabricate these shielding materials to meet your requirements and can provide these materials in sizes and shapes other than the standard ones. They can be molded or machined as necessary.
We have extensive experience with base materials such as polyethylene, epoxy, silicone, urethane, hydrocarbons, refractories, and cement materials. Additives include boron, iron, bismuth, and lithium.