Design and Development of a Low Cost, Less Weight, and Lead-free Composite Materials for Radiation Shielding

Abstract

The paper analyses the performance of various composite materials in the lead-free apron for radiation shielding in biomedical applications. The challenging task is to extend the duration of wearing an apron, reduce the weight, and increase the comfort level for physicians. The lead-free composite materials used an alternative to lead in an apron due to their excellent properties such as mass attenuation coefficients, effectiveness against gamma radiation, flexibility and light-weight, and absorption. The present study discusses different simulation software used to assess the properties of the shielding material against the radiation effects. At the end of the paper, the promising directions are presented for future research

Exposure to radiation for a longer period leads to hazardous effects on the human body [1,2]. Therefore radiation shielding aprons are essential for the people who are exposed to radiation in medical applications. In photon shielding, a medium that has a relatively high mass density is considered to have the potential to attenuate or block the intensity of these photons by a number of different methods including photoemission and scattering. [3,4]. Radiation shielding aprons commonly use lead material due to its excellent properties, which have been around for a longer period [5]. In advance, the method called Monte-Carlo simulation (MCNP) has been widely followed in the studies that comprise of the designing and testing of new materials for radiation shielding as shown in Figure 1 [6].