Enhancement of Bentonite Materials with Cement for Gamma-Ray Shielding Capability

The gamma-ray shielding ability of various Bentonite-Cement mixed materials from northeast Egypt have been examined by determining their theoretical and experimental mass attenuation coefficients, mu(m) (cm(2)g(-1)), at photon energies of 59.6, 121.78, 344.28, 661.66, 964.13, 1173.23, 1332.5 and 1408.01 keV emitted from Am-241, Cs-137, Eu-152 and Co-60 point sources. The mu(m) was theoretically calculated using the chemical compositions obtained by Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX), while a NaI (Tl) scintillation detector was used to experimentally determine the mu(m) (cm(2)g(-1)) of the mixed samples. The theoretical values are in acceptable agreement with the experimental calculations of the XCom software. The linear attenuation coefficient (mu), mean free path (MFP), half-value layer (HVL) and the exposure buildup factor (EBF) were also calculated by knowing the mu(m) values of the examined samples. The gamma-radiation shielding ability of the selected Bentonite-Cement mixed samples have been studied against other puplished shielding materials. Knowledge of various factors such as thermo-chemical stability, availability and water holding capacity of the bentonite-cement mixed samples can be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the materials to shield gamma rays.

Automated summary

The gamma-ray shielding ability of various Bentonite-Cement mixed materials from northeast Egypt has been studied by determining their theoretical and experimental mass attenuation coefficients at different photon energies. The results suggest that these materials have the potential to be used for radiation shielding.