Radiation shielding characteristics of HDPE/tungsten oxide nanocomposites reinforced with graphene oxide and LDPE using Geant۴, XCOM and experiment

This research aims to determine and quantify the radiation shielding characteristics of high-density polyethylene/ tungsten oxide (HDPE/WO۳) nanocomposites including the linear attenuation coefficient (μ), mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), half-value layer (HVL) and tenth-value layer (TVL) for photons at various energies using Geant۴, XCOM, and experiment. Thus, HDPE was chosen as the polymer matrix. Then, the samples at various concentrations of WO۳ nanoparticles (۰, ۱, ۲, ۳, ۴, ۵, ۶, and ۹.۵ wt.%), different graphene oxide (GO) weight percentages (۰, ۰.۲۵, ۰.۵, and ۱ wt.%), and ۱۰ and ۲۰ wt.% linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) were fabricated. An NaI (Tl) scintillation detector was used to measure the shielding quantities using the ۲۰۱Tl, and ۹۹mTc sources at three energies of ۱۳۵, ۱۴۰, and ۱۶۷ keV. The experimental results demonstrated that the addition of GO and LLDPE to the HDPE matrix resulted in a more uniform sample. Incorporating ۲۰% LLDPE into the HDPE polymer matrix for the ۹۹mTc resulted in an ۱۸% rise in μ compared to pure HDPE. Finally, the experimental results revealed a comparatively good agreement with the Geant۴ and XCOM simulations.

Keywords:

Radiation shielding characteris tics , WO۳/HDPE nanocomposite , Geant۴ simulation , XCOM , solution processing