Publications

The X-rays of the nar row-spec trum N-se ries rang ing from 40 kV to 150 kV were used to de - termine the radia tion attenuation ability of a new cat egory of a polymer composite fabricated for shield ing pur poses. High den sity poly eth yl ene was syn the sized through a com pres sion mold ing tech nique, and in cor po rated with var i ous filler amounts (10, 15, 25, and 35 wt.%) of bulk mi cro-sized WO3 (Sam ple A), two WO3 nanoparticles 45 nm (Sam ple B), and 24 nm (Sam ple C). The WO3 filler was iden ti fied and char ac ter ized us ing X-ray dif frac tion and a transmission electron micro scope. The mass distribution of the chemical elements of the syn - the sized com pos ites was de ter mined by en ergy dispersive X-ray anal y sis. The ob tained re sults of the differ ent attenuation parameters revealed that the particle size and weight frac tion of WO3 par ti cles have an out stand ing ef fect on the X-ray shield ing abil ity of this com pos ite. The experimen tal measurements of the mass attenuation coef ficients were compared to the theo - ret i cal val ues tab u lated in the NIST da ta bases XCOM and FFAST. The mass at ten u a tion co ef - fi cient was in creased with the in cre ment of WO3 wt.% as well as with the de crease of the WO3 particle size. This improvement in the attenuation parameters of the NP(C) compos ite sug - gests their promising applica tions in radiation protection at the diagnos tic level.