Dependence of the Radiation-Protective Efficiency of AL–PB Multilayer Composites on Their Structure

We show that it is reasonable to develop one of the types of new high-performance radiation-protective materials, namely, “light metal + heavy metal” multilayer composites. The characteristics of the internal architecture of Al–Pb composites prepared by the successive application of vacuum and normal atmospheric rolling are presented. The difference between the radioisotropic and accelerated methods of experimental testing of the radiation-protective properties of materials are described. We analyze the results of testing of the composites and the influence of their structure on the radiation-protective characteristics of the investigated materials. It is shown that the radiation-protective efficiency of the composites of certain structure is higher than for aluminum by 30–40%. This enables us to reduce the weight of radiation-protective structures with preservation of the efficiency of protection on the level of aluminum or increase the efficiency of protection for a constant weight of the structure.