Investigation of gamma radiation shielding characteristics of bismuth reinforced ternary composites in wide photon energy region

The aim of this study is to evaluate gamma ray shielding properties for bismuth doped barite-based ternary polymer composite materials. In the first stage of the study, a polymer matrix was prepared by combining orthophthalic unsaturated polyester resin (OUP), Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide (MEKP) and Cobalt Octoate (6%) (Co-6). Then, barite and bismuth were added in certain proportions as filler material into this polymer matrix and thus ternary composites were produced. Experimental studies for the produced samples were carried out in narrow beam geometry using HPGe detector and ¹³³Ba, ²²Na, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co radioactive sources which emit photons between 276.4 and 1332.5 keV energy. To determine the gamma ray shielding properties of the produced ternary composites, radiation protection efficiency (RPE), linear attenuation coefficient (μ), mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Z_eff), effective electron density (N_E) parameters were obtained. Experimental results were compared with theoretical results obtained with WinXCOM software and GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation code. Experimental and theoretical results were found to be compatible with each other. According to obtained results, it was found that the sample with the best shielding property among the prepared samples was BaBi50 coded sample.