To tackle the challenge for materials in the fields such as deep space exploration with flexibility, light weight, high strength, and highly efficient neutron shielding properties, a novel organic-inorganic composites has been developed in this study. Based on ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers self-reinforcing linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) matrix method and hierarchical scattering and absorption strategy, a flexibly and light-weight multilayer structure has been designed with alternating gadolinium oxide (GdO)/LLDPE layers and UHMWPE fiber layers by stacking hot-pressing to augment the mechanical properties and neutron shielding efficiency of the composites. Moreover, PE, including UHMWPE fibers and LLDPE matrix, and GdO has been utilized as neutron shielding element to enhance its neutron scattering and absorption capability via an abundance of hydrogen atoms and Gd element. The neutron shielding performance of the multilayer GdO/UHMWPE/LLDPE composite, with a low density of ca. 1 g/cm, has been verified by neutron shielding test and a simulation method of equivalent Gd areal density (EGdAD). As a result, an ca. 90.0% neutron shielding efficiency can be achieved with only 2 mm thickness of the composites (with 20 wt% GdO), and an EGdAD value of 0.0489 g/cm is required to achieve 99% shielding efficiency. Moreover, the composites have a significant improvement in the tensile strength and modulus, with an average increase of 1000% (15.86 MPa–179.95 MPa) and 1238% (230.53 MPa–2787.55 MPa) compared to the GdO/LLDPE composites, respectively. The comprehensive performance of our developed multilayer GdO/UHMWPE/LLDPE composites is superior to previously reported results in the literatures. Therefore, it has great application prospect in the various fields like aerospace.

中文翻译：

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基于 UHMWPE 纤维的柔性、轻质、高强度、高效分级 Gd2O3/PE 复合材料，具有自增强策略，用于热中子屏蔽

为了应对深空探测等领域材料对柔性、轻质、高强度和高效中子屏蔽性能的挑战，本研究开发了一种新型有机-无机复合材料。基于超高分子量聚乙烯（UHMWPE）纤维自增强线性低密度聚乙烯（LLDPE）基体方法和分级散射和吸收策略，设计了一种灵活、轻质的氧化钆（GdO）/LLDPE交替多层结构通过热压堆叠层和UHMWPE纤维层来增强复合材料的机械性能和中子屏蔽效率。此外，PE（包括UHMWPE纤维和LLDPE基体）和GdO已被用作中子屏蔽元素，通过丰富的氢原子和Gd元素来增强其中子散射和吸收能力。多层GdO/UHMWPE/LLDPE复合材料的中子屏蔽性能低，密度约为。 1 g/cm，已通过中子屏蔽试验和等效Gd面密度（EGdAD）模拟方法验证。结果，大约。仅 2 mm 厚度的复合材料（含 20 wt% GdO）即可实现 90.0% 的中子屏蔽效率，并且需要 0.0489 g/cm 的 EGdAD 值才能实现 99% 的屏蔽效率。此外，复合材料的拉伸强度和模量显着提高，与GdO/LLDPE复合材料相比，平均分别提高了1000%（15.86 MPa-179.95 MPa）和1238%（230.53 MPa-2787.55 MPa）。我们开发的多层GdO/UHMWPE/LLDPE复合材料的综合性能优于先前文献报道的结果。因此，它在航空航天等各个领域具有巨大的应用前景。