Abstract

This current research presents gamma-ray shielding properties of polyboron, paraffin wax and ordinary concrete which have been used as potential radiation shielding materials. The study was carried out using particle and heavy ion transport code system (PHITS) which is a software arrangement, a combination of tools which can be used to simulate the particle transportation accurately through matter. Simulation measurements were conducted by NaI (Tl) scintillation detector and Cs-137 gamma source. Linear attenuation coefficients (μ) and mass attenuation coefficients (μm) values were calculated in the photon energies of 0.03 to 20 MeV. Relaxation lengths (λ) have been also calculated from obtaining linear attenuation coefficients. The calculated values of μ, μm and λ strongly depend on the photon energy, chemical composition and density of the studied shielding materials. The obtained results show mass attenuation coefficients, linear attenuation coefficients and relaxation length of the shielding materials on the photon energy. As results, the values of μm of polyboron had a little greater than those of paraffin wax at low photon energy range but at beyond the lower energy, the values of μm of polyboron and paraffin wax had approximately the same. Regarding with ordinary concrete shielding materials, the values of μm had much greater than those of polyboron and paraffin wax at the low energy photon range (0.03 to 0.1 MeV) but at above 0.1 MeV, the values of μm for all shielding materials had approximately the same. It could also be noticed that the relaxation length (λ) values of polyboron and paraffin wax had approximately the same over the entire photon energy range but the values of the ordinary concrete had much less than those of polyboron and paraffin wax. The relaxation length values of all sample materials increased over the entire photon energy range in relation with the less the values of λ, the more the values of λ. The results were compared with the database of X-Com taking photon energy range 0.03 to 20 MeV. It was concluded that the values of μm of all sample shielding materials had been found less than the error of 10% in comparison with the X-Com values. Therefore, the results of this study can be utilized to comprehend the shielding effectiveness of these materials.