ABSTRACT
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) was obtained through a compression molding technique, and incorporated with different filler weight fractions (0, 10, 15, 25, and 35%) of bulk WO3, and two different WO3 nanoparticle sizes (45 nm and 24 nm). The radiation attenuation ability of the new category of polymer composite HDPE/WO3 was evaluated using gamma-ray energies ranging from 59.53 up to 1332.5keV of four radioactive sources 241Am, 133Ba, 137Cs, and 60Co. The mass attenuation coefficients µm, the total molecular cross-section σmol, the effective atomic cross-section σatom, the total electronic cross-section σel, the effective atomic number Zeff, electron density Neff, the half value layer (HVL), the tenth value layer (TVL), and the relaxation length were investigated. The obtained results of the gamma-ray attenuation parameters exhibited an outstanding influence of the size and weight fraction of WO3 filler on the gamma-ray shielding ability of the HDPE composite. A significant improvement was detected at low gamma-ray energies. The HVL of the synthesized HDPE composites is compared with that of pure lead as a conventional shielding material. HDPE composite filled with the smaller size of WO3 nanoparticle shows good improvement in the attenuation parameters, which suggests promising applications in radiation protection and gamma-ray shielding.
