Design and evaluation of multi-layer polybenzoxazine composites for enhanced gamma and neutron shielding

Abstract This study investigates the gamma and neutron shielding performance of novel polybenzoxazine (PBz) based composites reinforced with Mo 2 C, Boron, and WS 2 additives. The additives are mixed into the matrix at various mass ratios and then each sample is evaluated in terms of radiation interactions. A three-layered shielding structure was further designed with PBz-Mo2C-25 as the front layer, PBz-B-25 as the intermediate layer, and PBz-WS2-25 as the rear layer. The obtained results show that multi-layer configuration, PBz-3L, further enhanced low-energy neutron attenuation, achieving substantially greater reductions in thermal and epithermal flux compared to single-layer Mo 2 C- and WS 2 -reinforced composites. For photons, the multilayer structure achieves radiation protection efficiency (RPE) values exceeding 99 % at low gamma energies. Total ionizing dose (TID) and displacement per atom (DPA) analyses are also reported. These findings confirm the superior shielding capability of the three-layer composite, highlighting its potential for advanced radiation protection applications in nuclear and aerospace environments.