Field of Scientific Attachment Programme

The objective of this work is to develop shielding material either to be used as neutron shielding or gamma and x-ray shielding materials. Radiation shielding materials are used for various radiologic and nuclear applications. One of the three major principles of mitigating external radiation exposure is shielding; an absorber material for beta particles and lead as an effective way to reduce radiation exposure due to X- and gamma rays. Lead-based composite blends are a proprietary mixture of lead and other materials such as tin, rubber, PVC vinyl that attenuate radiation. Whereas, non-lead shielding materials are manufactured with additives and binders that mixed with attenuating metals or ceramics that also absorb or block radiation. These shielding materials may contain tin (Sn), antimony (Sb), tungsten (W) bismuth (Bi), kaolin, barium sulphate or other elements. Thermoplastic based shielding materials are developed without any toxic constituents to shield gamma and x-ray sources, for example a composite of tungsten powder in a polymeric matrix. For neutron source and reactor applications, boron composites are the regular shielding materials that were developed, including concrete. Boron carbide is used extensively in nuclear reactors as a constituent material of neutron shields because of its high absorption of neutrons. Material with low nucleus mass such as water, paraffin, polyethylene and concrete which contains high hydrogen atoms is also suitable to slow down neutron and shield the surroundings. Concrete is widely used for neutron shielding due to having a high level of hydrogen content and high-strength load-bearing structural shielding. Laboratory works involved are to develop the concrete shielding materials or other materials and characterizations of those materials in order to investigate their performance for radiation shielding.

Corrosion is a major problem in the industry worldwide. It contributes to the degradation of materials and causes a failure to the structure. Corrosion leads to   plant shutdowns, waste of valuable resources, loss or contamination of product, reduction in efficiency, costly maintenance, and expensive overdesign. It can also jeopardize safety and inhibit technological progress. There are 5 major components of corrosion protection such as material, design, cathodic protection, inhibitor and coating.
There are some areas of corrosion studies that we can offer students to gain knowledge in the field of corrosion and corrosion protection

Nanoelectrochemistry is an emerging field for the processing of functional nanostructures that can be used as building blocks for various applications such as sensors, electrocatalysts, photocatalysts or energy conversion devices. Nanostructures ranging from simple configurations such as porous membranes, nanorods, nanoparticles or nanowires to complex configurations such as multisegmented or core-shell structures can be synthesized using specific electrochemical techniques.

The objectives of these work are; to enhance the capabilities of researchers in radiation damage studies on various materials (electronic materials, devices or components) using available advanced characterization techniques and to gain understanding on how irradiations influenced the short and long term characterization techniques, the electronic properties of materials and devices, and how it leads to an improved radiation resistance. There are many technologies which require the use of materials, components, electronic materials and devices in harsh radiation environments, such as in high energy physics facilities, in nuclear reactors, radiation therapy systems, radiation detectors and the aerospace sector. Things that need to be considered when these materials are being used in these conditions are both the immediate and long term effects. The immediate effects would be the damage induced by the radiation on the materials such as the electrical properties of devices, whereas the long term effects are the accumulation of damage which can limit the useful lifetime of components or devices.  The significant gaps in radiation damage are to understand the types of defects that were formed, how defects can be detected and their effects on physical, electrical and structural properties of a component. This work reflects the needs to study the radiation effects of materials, devices, and electronic materials, with the aim is to enhance the current understanding of the types and effects of the various defects produced using electron, gamma and neutron irradiations. Laboratory work may include the irradiation process and investigation on the radiation effects to the sample.

The main objective of the course offered is to develop a thorough understanding on how neutron imaging and neutron CT could be crucial in materials integrity inspection in non-destructive evaluation technique. Generally, neutron imaging is an important tool in non-destructive testing which has been widely used especially in industrial, medical, metallurgical, nuclear and explosive inspection. Most work in neutron imaging is performed with thermal neutron defined as neutron with energy of about 0.025eV. There are two reasons for the choice of thermal neutron. First, neutron within this energy range can exhibit the useful attenuation feature described above; second, thermal neutron can be easily obtained. Neutron from point sources, e.g. nuclear reactor, usually has higher energy than thermal neutron and diverges in direction. Therefore, it is necessary to slow down and collimate the neutron to generate a sharp radiograph with high resolution.