Hi all..
How are you today? this time I will try to explain about the physics of radiation, hopefully our learning this time can add knowledge to all of us, and beforehand I also want to apologize to all of you if in my writing below there are errors.
Neutrons are electrically neutral, i.e.a charge that is essentially an atomic nucleus and electrons have no influence on their movement,neutron radiation can penetrate matter relatively easily due to indirect ionizing effects,mostly through the impact of light atomic nuclei or their components.
which in turn have an ionizing effect,causing collisions that make the neutron energy lower or slower.
So we can conclude that neutron radiation is ionizing radiation consisting of free neutrons (with different kinetic energies).
The main effects of slow neutrons, especially thermal ones are based on their ability to stick to the atomic nucleus (neutron capture). Isotopes of the capturing atom are formed with the mass number increasing by1.
Many of the isotopes made in this way are radioactive, so ionizing radiation may still occur long after neutron irradiation (depending on the half-life of the isotope) due to decay.
Risk to health.
Exposure to large amounts of radiation can cause illness and even death within hours or days. Signs of radiation sickness include nausea, weakness, hair loss, sunburn, and reduced organ function.
Effects on materials and materials.
Neutrons also degrade materials; the collision of the material by the neutrons causes a graded collision which results in point defects and dislocations in the material. Large neutron fluxes can weaken or swell metals and other materials. This is a problem for nuclear reactor vessels, and severely limits their life (it can be extended by gradual annealing of the vessel, which serves to reduce the number of accumulated dislocations). The graphite moderator is very sensitive to this effect, known as the“Wigner effect”and requires annual annealing.
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