Detection of new polymer materials as gamma-ray-shielding materials

ABSTRACT

Mass attenuation coefficients (µ_m), total atomic cross-sections (σ_t), molar extinction coefficients (), electronic cross-sections (σ_e), effective atomic numbers (Z_eff) and electron densities (N_eff) have been computed for few nylons that are polymers, namely, nylon 6 (C₆H₁₁ON), nylon 1,1 (C₁₁H₂₁ON), nylon 6,6 (C₁₂H₂₂O₂N₂), nylon 6,9 (C₁₅H₂₈O₂N₂), nylon 6,10 (C₁₆H₃₀O₂N₂) and nylon 6,12 (C₁₈H₃₄O₂N₂) using narrow beam good geometry set-up. In the present investigation, radio-nuclides ⁵⁷C_O, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs, Co⁵⁷, Ba¹³³, Cs¹³⁷, Na²², Mn⁵⁴ and Co⁶⁰ emitting energies 122, 356, 511, 662, 840, 1170, 1275 and 1330 keV have been counted by a NaI (Tl) detector coupled with the 8 K multichannel analyzer. Values of µ_m, σ_t and σ_e decrease with increasing energy of gamma photons due to the dominance of Compton scattering in the selected energy range. Effective atomic numbers of chosen samples tend to be almost constant as a function of energy. It is clearly observed from the computed results that the among the chosen samples nylon 1,1 has good absorption capability of gamma photons in the low energy region. An attempt has been made to investigate the new gamma-ray-shielding materials that can be used at a large scale and that will be available at low cost.

KEYWORDS:

• Mass attenuation coefficient
• molar extinction coefficient
• effective atomic number
• effective electron density

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.