Neutrons for concrete science

Neutron-based elemental analysis and imaging methods are well applicable to many fields of material science. In the framework of an international project (V4-Korea RADCON), a complex methodology developed at the Centre for Energy Research of Hungarian Academy of Sciences (the legal entity operating the Budapest Research Reactor and the Budapest Neutron Centre) is applied to fundamental research on concrete materials for radiation shielding purposes. Due to combined use of multiple analytical (instrumental neutron and prompt gamma activation analyses, INAA and PGAA) and imaging (neutron radiography and tomography, NR and NT) techniques, the investigation of many material characteristics (major, minor and trace element composition; macro-scale pore and grain structure, moisture movement behavior) became possible. These data provide a solid basis for the understanding, prediction or modelling of macroscopic properties (e.g. mechanical strength, durability). This paper presents case study achieved during the RADCON project by neutron-based methods