Title
Fabrication, characterization and gamma rays shielding properties of nano and micro lead oxide-dispersed-high density polyethylene composites
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Polymer composites of high-density polyethylene (HD-PE) filled with powdered lead oxide nanoparticles (PbO NPs) and bulk lead oxide (PbO Blk) were prepared with filler weight fraction [10% and 50%]. These polymer composites were investigated for radiation-shielding of gamma-rays emitted from radioactive point sources [241Am, 133Ba, 137Cs, and 60Co]. The polymer was found to decrease the heaviness of the shielding material and increase the flexibility while the metal oxide fillers acted as principle radiation attenuators in the polymer composite. The prepared composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area (BET) and field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM). The morphological analysis of the assembled composites showed that, PbO NPs and PbO Blk materials exhibited homogenous dispersion in the polymer-matrix. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated that the thermal-stability of HD-PE was enhanced in the presence of both PbO Blk and PbO NPs. The results declared that, the density of polymer composites was increase with the percentage of filler contents. The highest density value was identified as 1.652 g cm−3 for 50 wt% of PbO NPs. Linear attenuation coefficients (µ) have been estimated from the use of XCOM code and measured results. Reasonable agreement was attended between theoretical and experimental results. These composites were also found to display excellent percentage of heaviness with respect to other conventional materials.
Publication Date
4-1-2018
Faculty
Faculty of Dentistry
Subject Area
Physical Sciences, Physics and Astronomy
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Indexed in Web Of Science
yes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2017.10.017
Volume
145
Keywords
Attenuation coefficients, Density, Gamma-rays shielding, HD-PE composites, Lead oxide nanoparticles
ISSN
0969806X
eISSN
18790895
Recommended Citation
Mahmoud, Mohamed E.; El-Khatib, Ahmed M.; Badawi, Mohamed S.; Rashad, Amal R.; El-Sharkawy, Rehab M.; and Thabet, Abouzeid A., "Fabrication, characterization and gamma rays shielding properties of nano and micro lead oxide-dispersed-high density polyethylene composites" (2018). Faculty of Dentistry. 65.
https://pks.pua.edu.eg/dentistry_publications/65