Investigation of the Protective Capacities of Precipitation-Hardening Stainless Steels in terms of Charged and un-Charged Particle Radiation

Abstract

In this study, it has been focused on the investigation of particle-shielding performances of precipitation-hardening stainless steels (PH-SSs). In line with this focus, the stopping powers and ranges values of four different PH-SSs (15−5PH, 15−7PH, 17−4PH and 17−7PH) for energetic charged particles (proton, electron and alpha particles) were carried out in the kinetic energy range of 0.01-20 MeV. In addition, the fast neutron removal cross-section values of PH-SSs examined for neutrons were calculated at 4.5 MeV. In order to achieve a remarkable conclusion about the particle-absorbing capacities of the PH-SSs investigated, all calculations were also performed for some concretes (steelmagnetite, steel-scrap and ordinary concretes) used as shielding materials in nuclear applications. The results obtained were comparatively presented as a function of kinetic energy of particles. In addition, the results obtained were evaluated in terms of both types of particle and phase structures of materials examined. According to the results obtained, it was observed that the all investigated parameters are independent of phase structures of PH-SSs, that the all calculated parameters for PH-SSs examined are very close to each other, and that the particle-shielding performances of PH-SSs under examination are better than comparison concretes. As a result of the data obtained from this study, it was observed that PH-SSs can be used as an alternative material in areas where particle radiation safety is required because of their superior characteristic and shielding properties.