The goal of this work was to design and test a new structure for nuclear radiation
shielding applications using novel metallic foams, in order to meet needs for lightweight
multifunctional shielding materials. Two sections of radiation transmission experiments
dealing with different radiation sources were designed. Gamma-ray transmission experiment
was carried out with three different photon energies. Thermal neutron transmission
experiment was done in the NCSU PULSTAR Reactor beam port #5. Multiple measurements
were performed and the experimental results were analyzed.
The gamma-ray experiment results shows the metallic foam itself attenuates less
gamma-ray compared to bulk material, as a consequence of saving weight. The results also
predict a tendency that by filling foam with liquid, the attenuation ability of the sample
would be better than the pure bulk material and its base material the foam made from. At the
same time it owns the advantage of saving weight. The liquid filled in foam in this work
water and boric acid solution. It has been found out to have almost the same effect on
attenuating gamma-ray.
The thermal neutron experiment verifies the assumption that the boric acid solution
works for attenuating thermal neutron. The results have shown that by filling foam with
water or boric acid solution, the attenuation got improved compared to bulk material and
foam. Foams filled with boric acid solution have the most obvious attenuating effect. By 109
increasing the boric acid concentration and thickness of the layers, the samples even totally
stopped the beam.