Gamma-ray shielding characteristics of flexible silicone tungsten composites.
Appl Radiat Isot
; 155: 108901, 2020 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31655354
ABSTRACT
Silicone being a hybrid elastomer is well known for its excellent thermal and mechanical properties, chemical resistance, compatibility with organic and inorganic fillers, nontoxicity, and flexibility. As the reported literature on silicone tungsten composite is rare, thus, a complete possible spectrum of silicone tungsten composites series with tungsten loading of 0-88.1 %wt has been fabricated by RTV method and studied as a flexible gamma shielding material. Flexible silicone/tungsten composite formulations containing different weight percentages of tungsten powder (0, 30.1, 47.8, 59.8, 68.1, and 88.1â¯wt %) were developed by the room-temperature vulcanization route. Two lead collimators with diameters of 0.6â¯cm were used to make a narrow beam geometry for gamma rays emitted from a137Cs (gamma-ray energy of 662â¯keV) point source. Uncollided flux was measured with a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector enclosed in lead shielding to reduce the background radiation level. The measured mass attenuation coefficient for our composites with 88.1â¯wt % tungsten was 0.1035â¯cm2/g, which is nearly 3.5% higher than that of commercially available silicone/tungsten composites named T-Flex (nearly 0.095â¯cm2/g) containing the same tungsten loading. Similarly, superior half value layers (HVL) of our composites with 88.1 % wt loading of tungsten i.e 1.01â¯cm versus 1.27â¯cm for the reported T-Flex counterpart with additional advantage of insitu fabrication on complex geometries. It was also found that the effectiveness of gamma-ray shielding increases with increase in density of the composites, which is due to the increase in the weight percent of tungsten powder. Our material will have applications as shielding material for both mobile and stationary radiation sources and it can also be used as fabrication material for gloves, safety shoes, coats, etc. to protect workers in a radiation environment.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Appl Radiat Isot
Assunto da revista:
MEDICINA NUCLEAR
/
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Paquistão