Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Gamma Radiation Shielding Properties of Polymer/Metal Oxide Nanocomposites

There is a danger from being exposed to any amount of ionizing radiation in a great number of fields. In order to protect people and the environment from such hazardous radiations, design or select an effective, appropriate shielding material is mandatory. Metal polymer composites (MPCs) are new category of advanced materials whose effectiveness in the field of radiation protection has been confirmed experimentally and theoretically. In present study, three common metal oxide nanoparticles including PbO, ZnO, and TiO2 have been used to strength the epoxy resin polymeric matrix. Metal oxide/epoxy composites were prepared in different weight percent of metal oxides powder. Moreover, a theoretical study has been performed through Monte Carlo method. The results confirmed the superior gamma attenuation capability of nanocomposites than pure epoxy matrix (up to 70%) which was comparable with bulk Pb ability. Besides, it was found that attenuation performance of the epoxy/metal oxide nanocomposites is significant in the low energy range (<0.5MeV). Furthermore, a great agreement between experimental and Monte Carlo study has been confirmed.