Enhancement and optimization of gamma radiation shielding by doped nano HgO into nanoscale bentonite
Elhassan A. Allam, Rehab M. El‐Sharkawy, Atef El‐Taher, E.R. Shaaban, Reda Elsaman, Ehab El Sayed Massoud, Mohamed E. Mahmoud
Abstract
In this study, nano-scaled shielding materials were assembled and fabricated by doping different weight percentages of Nano-mercuric oxide (N-HgO) into Nano-Bentonite (N-Bent) based on using (100-x% N-Bent + x% N-HgO, x = 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt %). The fabricated N-HgO/N-Bent nanocomposites were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, and SEM and evaluated to evaluate their shielding properties toward gamma radiation by using four different γ-ray energies form three point sources; 356 keV from 133Ba, 662 keV from 137Cs as well as 1173, and 1332 keV from 60Co. The γ-rays mass attenuation coefficients were plotted as a function of the doped N-HgO concentrations into N-HgO/N-Bent nanocomposites. The computed values of mass attenuation coefficients (μm), effective atomic number (Zeff) and electron density (Nel) by the as-prepared samples were found to increase, while the half value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) were identified to decrease upon increasing the N-HgO contents. It was concluded also that the increase in N-HgO concentration led to a direct increase in the mass attenuation coefficient from 0.10 to 0.17 cm2/g at 356 keV and from 0.08 to 0.09 cm2/g at 662 keV. However, a slight increase was observed in the identified mass attenuation coefficients at (1172 and 1332 keV).