Evaluation of Radiation Shielding Properties of the Polyvinyl Alcohol/Iron Oxide Polymer Composite

Context: Lead is the conventional shielding material against gamma/X-rays. It has some limitations such as toxic, high density, nonflexibility, and also bremsstrahlung production during electron interaction. It may affect the accuracy of radiotherapy outcome. Aims: To theoretically analyze the radiation shielding properties of flexible polyvinyl alcohol/iron oxide polymer composite with five different concentrations of magnetite over the energy range of 15 KeV-20 MeV. Subjects and Methods: Radiological properties were calculated based on the published literature. Attenuation coefficients of pure elements are generated with the help of WinXCOM database. Results: Effective atomic numbers and electron density are increased with the concentration of magnetite. On the other hand, the number of electrons per gram decreased. Mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho) and linear attenuation coefficients (mu) are higher in the lower energy < 100 KeV, and their values decreased when the energy increased. Computed tomography numbers (CT) show the significant variation between the concentrations in < 60 KeV. Half-value layer and tenth-value layers are directly proportional to the energy and indirectly proportional to the concentration of magnetite. Transmission curve, relaxation length (lambda), kinetic energy released in the matter, and elemental weight fraction are also calculated and the results are discussed. Conclusions: 0.5% of the magnetite gives superior shielding properties compared with other concentrations. It may be due to the presence of 0.3617% of Fe. Elemental weight fraction, atomic number, photon energy, and mass densities are the important parameters to understand the shielding behavior of any material.