Tungsten Alloy Shielding For Killing Pests With Irradiation

Killing pests with irradiation is a type of physical pest control technology that uses ionization radiation to interact with pests to induce a series of physical, chemical and biological effects, causing sterility and death of pests. The rays used for killing pests are mainlyγ rays(generated by Co-60 or Cs-137) and high-energy electrons(below 10MeV) as well as X rays(below 5MeV) produced by accelerator. Of which cobalt irradiation has developed fast while the development of electron beam and X-ray irradiation are relatively lagging behind. But with the recent development of accelerator technology, electron beam irradiation shows its unique advantages, and has been paid more and more attention. Due to electromagnetic radiation is harmful to human health, normally using tungsten alloy shielding for killing pests with irradiation to protect staffs from the radiation.

Physical pest control method is also called pest irradiation on quarantine, namely uses a variety of electromagnetic radiation (such as microwave, ultraviolet,γ ray, X-ray, ultrasound, infrared, etc.) to irradiate the eggs, larva, pupa, adult, resulting in a series of physiological changes in the body of peats, leading to metabolic disorder, loss of reproductive capacity, and ultimately death. A certain doses of electromagnetic radiation can cause the death and infertility of insect, and shorten its life, delay its eclosion and development, as well as reduce its hatching. Thus, irradiation insecticidal technology is widely used in food industry, animal husbandry and agriculture, for the quarantine treatment of animals and plants and pest control and sterilization in food processing.

Lead is primally used as a shielding material, but there are some problems exist in the long term use of lead shielding. Lead and its compounds can cause human poisoning by entering into human body through respiratory or digestive tract. While compared with lead, tungsten is non-toxic and non-radioactive, so that it will not harm human health. Moreover, the high density of tungsten alloy also makes it thinner and lighter than lead in the situation of the same weight and shielding performance with lead. 

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