Speakers
Description
Bismuth coated fibres with coating contents of up to 80 wt% provide a highly effective approach to introducing high Z radiation shielding into lightweight material systems. The fibres are available as industrially processable yarns and woven textiles, enabling integration into high performance composite architectures using established manufacturing routes. Compared to conventional aluminium shielding, the high bismuth content enables significantly improved attenuation per areal mass, making these materials particularly relevant for weight critical space systems such as small satellites, electronics enclosures, and exploration platforms.
To validate shielding performance under real mission conditions, bismuth coated fibre materials are currently being prepared for an in orbit demonstration mission in cooperation with the Spanish company LOFITH. The payload combines the shielding material with radiation sensors, strain gauges, and thermocouples to directly correlate radiation attenuation with structural and thermal behaviour, providing in space data and contributing to early space heritage. This work forms part of a broader development towards fibre based graded Z shielding concepts, with ongoing efforts to expand the portfolio toward additional high Z materials - supporting future optimization of multi layer and composite shielding solutions.