Researchers develop smaller, lighter radiation shielding

Science Daily  February 12, 2020
Commonly used shielding in aerospace devices consists of putting an aluminum box around any sensitive technologies has been viewed as providing the best tradeoff between a shield’s weight and the protection it provides. A team of researchers in the US (industry, North Carolina State University) has developed a technique that relies on mixing oxidized metal powder — rust — in a polymer, and then incorporating it into a common conformal coating on the relevant electronics. Radiation transport calculations show that inclusion of the metal oxide powder provides shielding comparable to a conventional shield, at low energies. The metal oxide powder reduces both gamma radiation to the electronics by a factor of 300 and the neutron radiation damage by 225%. The coating is less bulky, lighter, the oxide particulate is less expensive than the same amount of the pure metal, less toxic and does not pose electromagnetic challenges that could interfere with a device’s operation…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 

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