The Radiation Shielding Performance of Polyester with TeO2 and B2O3

In this research, polymers were fabricated through combining polyester, boron oxide (B2O3), and Tellurium oxide (TeO2). B2O3 has good neutron absorption and TeO2 is not only highly dense (5.670 g/cm(3)) but also environment-friendly, compared to PbO, as well as being a good photon absorber. The radiation protection features for five investigated samples were examined utilizing an HPGe detector and point sources Am-241, Cs-137, and Co-60. The accuracy of the experimental setup of this experiment was proven through the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) values obtained from the theoretical (XCOM) and experimental (HPGe) values of the newly developed polymers. The attained results showed that the values of LAC decrease with increasing energy. Moreover, at low energy, a noteworthy increase was found for the LAC values with the addition of TeO2. Due to the increase in TeO2 content of the polymers, the value of the half value layer (HVL) decreases from 6.073-4.193 cm at energy 0.662 MeV, from 7.973-5.668 cm at energy 1.173 MeV, and 8.514-6.061 cm at energy 1.333 MeV. The values of the effective atomic number (Z(eff)) showed an improvement with the increase in TeO2 content in the polymers. For example, at energy 0.150 MeV, the Z(eff) values of the prepared sample followed this decreasing trend - PBT-40 > PBT-30 > PBT-20 > PBT-10 > PBT-0.

Automated summary

In this research, polymers were fabricated by combining polyester, boron oxide, and tellurium oxide. The radiation protection features of these polymers were examined, and the results showed that the linear attenuation coefficient decreased with increasing energy. The addition of tellurium oxide significantly increased the linear attenuation coefficient at low energy. Moreover, the increase in tellurium oxide content led to a decrease in the half value layer and an improvement in the effective atomic number of the polymers.