Structural and gamma-ray attenuation coefficients of different OAD films for nuclear medicine applications

This study aims to investigate the gamma and neutron attenuation properties of several OAD (oral anti-diabetic drugs) samples. Our sample consists of seven different OAD films with different elemental compositions. The data were evaluated with Monte Carlo (MATLAB, WinX) techniques by SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and EDS (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy) analysis. By using WinXCOM in the energy range from 0.02 MeV to 20 MeV, the mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) for OAD samples are calculated. Additionally, both effective removal cross-section and effective atomic numbers (Z(eff)) for the sample films are investigated in the energy range from 0.02 MeV to 20 MeV. By using the mu/rho, the Tenth-value-layer (TVL), the Half-value-layer (HVL), and Mean-free-path (MFP) values are also computed. The investigation reveals that the N5 sample having the highest Z(eff) and the highest MAC values is better in terms of gamma-ray shielding. It can be concluded that chemical structure of additive materials is strongly related with the radiation attenuation properties of OAD samples. Moreover, the effective removal cross section (Sigma R) of investigated OAD samples have been calculated. The N7 has the highest (Sigma R) value as a most effective OAD sample among the other samples for fast neutron shielding.