Recent Advances in Radiation Shielding Materials: Flexible Textile-Based Composites

Flexible textile-based radiation-shielding composites are being developed to overcome the high mass, toxicity, and poor conformability of conventional protective materials. However, attenuation is commonly enhanced by increasing the loading of high-atomic-number components, coating add-on, or layer number, which can simultaneously increase mass per unit area and flexural rigidity, block textile pores, and reduce mechanical durability and thermal-moisture comfort. This Review examines flexible materials for shielding X-rays, γ rays, and neutrons through a structure-processing-performance framework. Radiation-matter interactions are first related to the selection and combination of photon- and neutron-attenuating components. The effects of porosity, fiber and yarn arrangement, filler continuity, interfacial stabilization, and through-thickness distribution on radiation transport and attenuation are then critically discussed. Fabrication routes are organized according to the structures they produce, with emphasis on fiber formation and the functionalization of preformed textile substrates. Across these routes, nominal filler content and initial attenuation alone are insufficient for meaningful comparison because the reported performance also depends strongly on radiation quality, specimen thickness, total mass per unit area, shielding-phase areal loading, and test geometry. An application-oriented evaluation framework is therefore outlined by coupling radiation attenuation with flexibility, mechanical integrity, air and moisture transport, and shielding retention after washing, abrasion, and repeated deformation. Future progress will depend on improving attenuation efficiency per unit areal loading, spatially coordinating photon attenuation with neutron moderation and capture, and preserving locally continuous shielding under mechanical and environmental damage.