Radiation Shielding Properties of Polyethylene Reinforced with PbO and CdO: Experimental and Theoretical Study

In this study, polymer composites were fabricated for radiation shielding efficiency. Polymer composites were made using high-density polyethylene reinforced with different percentages of lead oxide (PbO) and cadmium oxide (CdO), with weight fractions of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% in addition to pure PE. The polymer composite was synthesized and characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, elemental mapping, scanning electron microscopy, and thermal analysis.The experimental and theoretical attenuation parameters against gamma rays produced from radioactive point sources 137Cs, 60Co, and 152Eu with energies ranging from 0.1218 to 1.408 MeV were investigated. A strong correlation was observed between the experimental and theoretical mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for the gamma-ray parameters. The gamma-ray shielding parameters included the MAC, half-value layer (HVL), effective atomic number, effective electron density, gamma ray transmission factor, dose rate, and relative kerma. Additionally, parameters for the attenuation of fast and thermal neutrons were computed with Phy-X/PSD, MRCScal, a neutron activation scattering calculator, and NGCal software.Comparison research was done to determine the optimal shielding parameters for the synthesized composites. Moreover, the range of some selected energetic ions through the investigated composites was computed using SRIM Monte Carlo software over a broad energy range, varying from 0.01 to 20 MeV. The ESTAR NIST program calculated the total stopping power and continuous slowing down approximation range for energetic electron interactions across the 10−2 to 103 MeV energy range. The descending order of HVL values at the relevant gamma-ray energy was HVLPE>HVLPE5>HVLPE10>HVLPE15>HVLPE20 for gamma-ray attenuation. The composite with the best protection against fast/thermal neutrons is PE20, which has the highest level of CdO and PbO. The experimental and theoretical values of the MAC roughly agreed, with a relative deviation of no more than 10.169%.