A Computational Study for Mitigating the Risk of X-Ray Exposure with Radiation Shielding Properties of Polyvinyl Chloride/Polyethylene Glycol Polymer Composites Including Bismuth Oxide, Copper Cobaltite Oxide, and Zinc Tungstate Composites

In order to develop efficient substitutes for dangerous lead-based X-ray shielding materials, bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), copper cobaltite oxide (CuCo2O4), and zinc tungsten (ZnWO4) were added separately to polyvinyl chloride/polyethylene glycol (PVC/PEG) polymer composite. It is worth mentioning that this report is almost the first one dealing with such designed composites with the used elements and concentrations. Various shielding factors, including the linear and mass attenuation coefficients (LAC and MAC), mean free path (MFP), half and tenth value layers (HVL and TVL), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective density (Neff), equivalent atomic number (Zeq), exposure buildup factor (EBF) and energy absorption buildup factor (EABF) were computed. These calculations were done in the X-rays incident energy range between 0.01 and 10 MeV, for the PVC/PEG (S1), PVC/PEG/Bi2O3 (S2), PVC/PEG/CuCo2O4 (S3), and PVC/PEG/ZnWO4 (S4) composites. Comparing the S2 composite to the others; it is found that it has the greater X-ray shielding capabilities. Consequently, this composition could be a viable choice for protecting against X-ray risks.