Development of a impact limiter for radioactive material transport packages - characterization of the polymeric material used

Impact limiters are sacrificial components widely used to protect radioactive waste packages against damages arising from falls, fires and collisions with protruding objects. Several materials have been used as impact limiter filling: wood, aluminum honeycomb, and metallic or polymeric foams. Besides, hollow structures are also used as shock absorbers, either as a single shell or as a tube array. One of the most popular materials among package designers is rigid polyurethane foam, owing to its toughness, workability, low specific weight, low costs and commercial availability. In Brazil, a foam developed using the polymer extracted from the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) is being studied as a potential impact limiter filling. For a better performance of this material, it is necessary to minimize the impact limiter dimensions without compromising the package safety. For this, a detailed knowledge of the foam physical and mechanical properties is essential. A relatively vast amount of data about regular polymeric foams can be found in the literature and in foreign manufacturers brochures, but no data has been published about the properties of the castor oil foam. This paper presents data gathered in an ongoing research program aiming at the development of a Type-B packaging. Foam samples were submitted to uniaxial static compression tests and to hydrostatic tests. The results obtained reveal that the castor oil foam has a mechanical behavior similar to that of regular foams, with good property reproducibility and homogeneity. (author)