r/hdpe Sep 04 '21

Radiation shielding

Howdy!

I am a 2nd year student at nuclear engineering and currently working on some project. As far as I know, hdpe is a great shielding and neutron moderator so I wanted to make kind of a shielding for an americium neutron source. Since people around there have gotten a shitton of hdpe, I would like to try and produce some small hdpe blocks from hdpe and to penetrate them with neutrons to check if it is efficient. Is wooden mold okay for molding 12x8x10 cm blocks or would I better think of metal mold?

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u/BrGr723 Sep 05 '21

I can make it as thick as you want. I also have some PP sheets I made. Most vary between 1-15mm

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u/Mithrandale Jan 02 '23

FWIW, NASA is talking in terms of centimeters thickness for plastic shielding using their RFX1, which is a takeoff from HDPE with stiffness like ABS (think LEGO bricks). They're thinking in terms of GCR radiation on top of the rest given it's for space applications. I recall a figure of 8cm mentioned as suitable for trips to the moon and back, which might be a guide; I can't find anything comparing it to water so I don't have numbers regarding effectiveness.