Investigating Thermal Neutron and Gamma Ray Shielding Properties of Al Matrix Gd2O3-and W-Doped Composites Using Monte Carlo Simulations

Abstract

This study aimed to calculate the thermal neutron (0.0253 eV) total macroscopic cross-section and gamma-ray (1.25 MeV) linear absorption coefficient for (100-x)Al-xGd2O3 (x=5 to 50) and 100-(x+y)Al-xGd2O3+yW (x,y=5 to 50) composites using MCNP6.2 simulation code. The simulation consists of a mono-energy point neutron and gamma-ray source, target material, and detector. The F4 tally from the MCNP6.2 library was used as the detector. The results show the highest thermal neutron total macroscopic cross-section for the 50%Al-50%Gd2O3 composite and the highest linear absorption coefficient for the 50%Al-%5Gd2O3-45%W composite. The results of this study provide a good understanding of the thermal neutron and gamma ray the shielding capabilities of Al matrix Gd2O3 and W doped composites.