Characterization of wood-borax composites as alternative neutron shielding material using neutron radiography techniques

To protect operators of equipment using neutron radiation, an alternative material is needed as a neutron shielding which is lightweight and has a high neutron absorption. One alternative material that can be used is wood dust. In this study pure wood sawdust and 30% borax-wood composites were investigated as alternatives to shielding neutrons. Mixing wood sawdust and borax was done using HEM (High Energy Milling) for 1 hour, then pressed at 2000 Psi using a manual press with variations in thickness of 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm. SEM characterization results show, the grain size of wood in pure wood and 30% boraxwood composites is still quite large around 50 μm, the EDS results show no significant difference in wood content and 30% borax-wood composites. XRD characterization results showed no new phases were formed in the 30% borax-wood composite. The results of observations with optical microscopy showed that 30% borax-wood composite which were compressed did not form pores but were not evenly distributed. From the compressive test data, there was a decrease in the compressive ability of 30% borax-wood composites compared to pure wood dust from 226.6 N to 110.4 N. The neutron absorption test results using the Neutron Radiography technique with the film technique showed the addition of 30% borax to sawdust increased the neutron absorption rate by an average of 19.05% in wood to 20.24% in 30% borax-wood composites and increased the attenuation coefficient of 0.36 cm· in pure wood to 0.53 cm¹ in 30% borax-wood composite.