A Synergistic Approach to Radiation Shielding Design Through Computation-Informed Selection of Additively Manufacturable Composite Materials and Shield Configurations

Ionizing radiation is the collection of particles including photons, electrons, protons, andneutrons which have sufficient kinetic energy to remove bound electrons from an atomic nucleus. Thus, radiation effects can play a significant role in degrading the resiliency of technologies for a variety of applications, including those central to nuclear energy production and space travel. Radiation in these environments can be both acutely and chronically harmful to both humans and electronic and optical systems, hence the need for appropriate design of radiation protection measures and radiation resistance or hardness. In general, the three tenets of radiation protection are time, distance, and shielding. For many of these cutting-edge applications like space colonization and nuclear power generation via fission and fusion, the time within the radiation environment cannot be reduced nor the distance from the source increased, leaving radiation shielding as the primary method of exposure mitigation. The present work details and demonstrates a synergistic approach to radiation shielding design and implementation, focusing on the computation-based design of additively manufacturable composite radiation shielding materials. Monte Carlo simulations explore the shielding design space and inform optimization algorithms. The materials selected for these simulations are additively manufacturable via fused deposition modeling (FDM) into homogeneous and layered composite structures, the performance of which has been experimentally validated. Four publications are provided in the work (Chapters 4 – 7 respectively), in which the principles of this design approach have been demonstrated to address a range of radiation environments and shield design classes. The works are each presented with an assessment of their 16 contextual rationale and, when appropriate, a summary of subsequent follow-on efforts to extend the results and impact obtained beyond that of the original works. The firs