含硼聚乙烯是一种相对廉价的中子屏蔽材料，对其中子屏蔽特性已进行过一维基准实验。与其他中子屏蔽材料一样，该材料在中子的作用下产生γ射线。相对于屏蔽中子而言，γ射线是二级剂量。由于硼的中子吸收截面远大于氢，为了对含硼聚乙烯材料的性能有全面的了解，由中国工程物理研究院核物理与化学研究所进行过《D-T中子照射下含硼聚乙烯球泄露γ能谱测量》。

该实验运用聚乙烯球和含硼聚乙烯球在D-T中子照射下泄露γ能的实验最终说明：聚乙烯球中氢的慢化起主要作用，中子被慢化后，主要是低能中子对氢的反应。厚度越大，氢的慢化、吸收越强，表现在氢的反应峰值的幅度增大。

而在含硼聚乙烯球中，主要是硼起吸收作用。硼对低能中子的反应截面比较大，在还没有发生氢的反应之前低能中子基本已被硼完全吸收，含硼聚乙烯在质量百分比为10﹪、厚度为15cm时，含硼聚乙烯对中子的屏蔽效果已达到要求。

The boron - containing polyethylene is a relatively inexpensive neutron shielding material , which has been subjected to a one - dimensional reference experiment . As with other neutron shielding materials , the material produces gamma rays under the action of neutrons .

In this experiment, the leakage of γ energy from polyethylene ball and boron containing polyethylene ball under D-T neutron irradiation shows that the moderation of hydrogen in polyethylene ball plays a major role, and when the neutron is moderated, it is mainly the reaction of low energy neutron to hydrogen. The thicker the hydrogen is, the slower the hydrogen is and the stronger the absorption is, which is shown by the increase of the peak value of hydrogen.

Boron plays an important role in the absorption of boron-containing polyethylene balls. The reaction cross section of boron for low-energy neutrons is relatively large, and the low-energy neutrons have been completely absorbed by boron before the reaction of hydrogen has taken place. When the mass percentage of boron-containing polyethylene is 10% and the thickness of boron polyethylene is 15cm, The shielding effect of boron-containing polyethylene to neutron has reached the requirement.