Using epoxy resin (EP), a thermosetting polymer, as a neutron shielding material in nuclear facilities has become increasingly attractive because it is lightweight and has an excellent durability over neutron irradiation. However, it suffers from drawbacks such as reduced mechanical strength when mixed with functional fillers to improve the neutron shielding properties. In order to solve the issue, in this article, EP/gadolinium metal‐organic framework (Gd‐MOF) composites were successfully prepared, affording a new structural and functional composite with high thermal neutron shielding ability as well as good mechanical property. The shore hardness and Young's modulus of MOF/EP composites were increased remarkably compared with neat EP. Meanwhile, results indicated that the thermal performance of Gd‐MOF/EP composites was obviously increased with the addition of MOF fillers. The proposed mechanism of thermal stability improvement may provide deeper understanding of the structure‐activity relationship in thermosetting resin‐MOF composites for radiation protection application and other relevant academic research.

中文翻译：

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新型基于聚合物/ MOF的中子防护材料的结构-热活度关系

在核设施中使用环氧树脂（EP）作为热固性聚合物作为中子屏蔽材料已变得越来越有吸引力，因为它重量轻且具有比中子辐照更好的耐久性。然而，其具有诸如与功能性填料混合以改善中子屏蔽性能时机械强度降低的缺点。为了解决这一问题，本文成功地制备了EP / ga金属有机骨架（Gd-MOF）复合材料，从而提供了一种具有高中子热屏蔽能力和良好机械性能的新型结构和功能复合材料。与纯EP相比，MOF / EP复合材料的肖氏硬度和杨氏模量显着提高。同时，结果表明，加入MOF填料可明显提高Gd-MOF / EP复合材料的热性能。所提出的热稳定性改善机理可提供对用于辐射防护应用的热固性树脂-MOF复合材料的结构-活性关系的更深入了解，以及其他相关的学术研究。