Gamma radiation shielding performance of CuxAg(1-x)-alloys: Experimental, theoretical and simulation results

Abstract

Different types of photon shielding parameters such as total mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), linear attenuation coefficients (μ), half value layers (HVL), mean free paths (MFP), effective atomic numbers (ZEff), energy absorption build-up factors (EABF), exposure build-up factors (EBF) and kerma relative to air were investigated for the fabricated Cu–Ag based alloys. The considered parameters were measured through gamma spectrometer equipped with HPGe detector in order to obtain the experimental attenuation coefficients and other related parameters at various photon energy in the energy range 59.5–1332.5 keV. The measured μ/ρ values were confirmed with WinXCOM database results. FLUKA and GEANT4 simulation codes were used to examine the compatibility of the experimental and WinXCOM database results with these simulation codes. The exposure buildup factors of the alloy samples were estimated with help of Geometric Progression fitting formula over photon energy 0.015–15 MeV up to 40 mfp penetration depth. The results revealed that the exhibited effectiveness of Cu0.2Ag0.8 alloys against high energetic photon radiations had a good performance than that of alternative absorbers such conventional concretes, glasses and some alloys. The results of the present survey can be quite useful for possible applications of such materials, especially in nuclear laboratory and reactor core design for preference of effective photon shielding materials.