September 6, 1988, Page 00011Buy Reprints
The New York Times Archives
GOLD, one of the heaviest chemical elements, is the basis of a new lightweight plastic foam under development as a radiation shield.
Scientists at Texas A&M University have found a way to intersperse gold atoms with other atoms in the long molecular chains that make up polymers. By bubbling gas through the gold polymer, it can be expanded into a light foam that reportedly shows great promise as a shielding agent against neutrons and other types of radiation.
Dr. John Fackler, director of the program, said the new polymer combines gold with triphenylphosphine, a compound of carbon, hydrogen and phosphorus, in a form that may be suitable for making anti-radiation garments.
The polymer is 11 percent gold by weight, and the gold atoms in the substance efficiently scatter or absorb most forms of radiation, including X-rays. Chemically incorporated into a polymer, gold is less poisonous than other heavy metals that also block radiation. (Metallic gold is not poisonous, but when incorporated into compounds it may be.) Dr. Fackler said that because gold is chemically very stable, it tends to revert to its native state from some of the compounds it forms. We often have trouble with shiny, yellow metallic gold precipitating out of liquid compounds - just what refiners want, but the opposite of what we want, he said.
The gold polymer the Texas group has developed looks like plain white plastic, Dr. Fackler said, but it emits a yellowish glow when exposed to ultraviolet light.
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/06/science/science-watch-gold-as-radiation-shield.html