Experimental and Simulation Study on Shielding Performance of Developed Hydrogenous Composites

Abstract

Space radiation has been well-known as the main health hazard to crews involved in manned space explorations. Two kinds of hydrogenous-rich composites are developed through compressing molding under high-temperature processing techniques for shielding space radiation. Beams of 80~400 MeV/n 12C of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou are used to test the shielding properties of the new composites. Experimental results show that the composite with more hydrogen content has higher shielding ability for 80 and 400 MeV/n 12C particles. Meanwhile, the addition of boron has no obvious effect on improving the shielding performance of the composite. Monte Carlo radiation transport codes were used to assess the shielding performance of composite in real space radiation. The simulation results show that hydrogenous-rich composite has significant advantage in space radiation shielding compared with traditional aluminum.