Novel Produced CoCrFeNiNb_xW_x and CoCrFeNiNb_xTa_yMo_y High-Entropy Alloys for Radiation Shielding Applications

The development of new technologies to reduce the undesirable effects of radiation exposure is of great importance in view of the emerging number of applications involving high levels of radiation. Particularly in the nuclear industry, there is a significant need to develop materials that can withstand high temperatures. The objective of the paper was to develop novel alloys to examine the structural and radiation protection characteristics of those. In this regard, CoCrFeNiNb_xW_x (x = 6) and CoCrFeNiNb_xTa_yMo_y (x = 8, y = 4) alloys were produced and mean free path, effective atomic number, half value layer, linear and mass attenuation coefficients, fast neutron removal cross section, atomic and electronic cross sections, buildup factors of the alloys were calculated by using Phy-X/PSD software. For the purpose of giving the evaluation of the agreement for the mass attenuation coefficients calculated by Phy-X/PSD, XCom was also performed. Additionally, spectroscopic techniques (XRD and SEM-EDS) were used to obtain structural results of the alloys. Debye–Scherrer method based on the XRD phases was used to calculate the crystallite sizes of the alloys. It can be stated that both of the alloys have higher protection abilities and the existence of W increases the radiation attenuation properties. The attenuation of fast neutron by the alloys is obtained to be similar as photon attenuation. It was concluded that both of the alloys are accepted as new shields for high temperature applications and especially CoCrFeNiNb_xW_x has higher shielding effect than CoCrFeNiNb_xTa_yMo_y.