Radiation shielding evaluation of WC-B4C-SBR composites using PHITS

Abstract

Boron compounds are commonly used as neutron attenuating materials for their high neutron-cross sections. This study will attempt to evaluate the shielding capabilities of a novel composite based from boron carbide, tungsten carbide and styrene butadiene rubber. PHITS was used to simulate a ²⁵²Cf source to irradiate the composite samples and compute for neutron fluence. It was also used to simulate monoenergetic photon beams of 50 keV, 500 keV, and 1 MeV to measure photon fluence. The efficiency for attenuating neutrons and photons, and their mass attenuation coefficients were calculated and analyzed using the fluence tallies. Varying composition ratios of the material were employed.