Radiation shielding properties of materials used in the aeronautical industry

The investigation looked into metal materials originally created for aircraft frameworks and propulsion systems, which exemplify components engineered for opposing environments. The aluminum alloy AA7075 is a structural material for fuselage and wings, while the nickel superalloys Inconel 718 and Hastelloy X are suitable for combustion and exhaust sections of jet engines that operate at temperatures above 1000 °C. The radiation shielding effectiveness is relevant in several situations for commercial and defense aircraft, but it also matters for other employments of these alloys. Simulations through the XCOM and Phy-X/PSD codes allowed to obtain photon attenuation parameters of interest: linear and mass attenuation coefficients, mean free path (MFP), half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), effective atomic number (Z_eff) and effective electron density (N_eff). The analyzed energy range was 0.015–15 MeV, encompassing different photon-matter interactions. The results were evaluated on a comparison basis. The two types of materials, nickel and aluminum-based alloys, presented similar linear and mass attenuation profile shapes, with the lowest curves pertaining to AA7075. Regarding Ni-based alloys, the Nb and Mo amounts influenced Z_eff and N_eff for the lowest photon energies (<0.5 MeV). It is concluded the nickel superalloys are more efficient at shielding radiation than Al-7075, while differences are slight between Inconel 718 and Hastelloy X, in direct correlation with these materials’ chemical compositions and densities.