A detailed investigation of gamma and neutron shielding capabilities of ternary composites doped with polyacrylonitrile and gadolinium (III) sulfate

I Erkoyuncu; F Akman; H Ogul; M R Kaçal; H Polat; I Demirkol; K Dilsiz; B Ertuğral

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110789

A detailed investigation of gamma and neutron shielding capabilities of ternary composites doped with polyacrylonitrile and gadolinium (III) sulfate

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Jun:196:110789. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110789. Epub 2023 Mar 23.

Authors

I Erkoyuncu¹, F Akman², H Ogul³, M R Kaçal⁴, H Polat⁵, I Demirkol⁶, K Dilsiz⁶, B Ertuğral⁴

Affiliations

¹ Bingöl University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Physics, 12000, Bingöl, Turkey. Electronic address: ierkoyuncu@bingol.edu.tr.
² Bingöl University, Vocational School of Social Sciences, Department of Property protection and Security, Program of Occupational Health and Safety, 12000, Bingöl, Turkey; Bingöl University, Central Laboratory Application and Research Center, 12000, Bingöl, Turkey.
³ Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Sinop University, Sinop, Turkey.
⁴ Giresun University, Arts and Sciences Faculty, Department of Physics, 28100, Giresun, Turkey.
⁵ Bingöl University, Vocational School of Technical Sciences, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, 12000, Bingöl, Turkey.
⁶ Bingöl University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Physics, 12000, Bingöl, Turkey.

PMID: 36996534
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110789

Abstract

The shielding efficiencies of gamma and neutron radiations for ternary composites containing polyester resin, polyacrylonitrile and gadolinium (III) sulfate at different ratios were investigated in the present study. In order to investigate the gamma radiation shielding capacity of the produced ternary composites, linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half value layer, effective atomic number and radiation protection efficiency parameters were determined experimentally, theoretically and using the GEANT4 simulation code. The gamma shielding capabilities of the composites were studied in the photon energy range of 59.5-1332.5 keV. In order to investigate the neutron shielding abilities of composites, inelastic, elastic, capture and transport numbers, total macroscopic cross section and mean free path parameters were determined with the help of GEANT4 simulation code. In addition, the number of transmitted neutrons at different sample thicknesses and neutron energies were also determined. It was observed that gamma radiation shielding properties were improved due to the increasing amount of gadolinium (III) sulfate and neutron shielding properties were improved due to the increasing amount of polyacrylonitrile. While the composite coded P0Gd50 exhibits a better gamma radiation shielding ability than the others, the neutron shielding of the sample coded P50Gd0 is also more favorable than the others.

Keywords: Gadolinium (III) sulfate; Gama shielding; Neutron shielding; Polyacrylonitrile; Polymer composite.