High-density polyethylene with ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticle filler: Computational and experimental studies of radiation-protective characteristics of polymers

Background: Radiation protection seeks to prevent the negative consequences of ionizing radiation by reducing unneeded radiation exposure.Purpose: A widely established principle for working to assure radiation safety, the goal of this study is to optimize radiation protection.Methods: In this study, high density polyethylene C2H4 (HDPE) was created utilizing additions of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanopowder in accordance with the HDPE(ZnO)x and HDPE(TiO2)x formulas, where x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,12, and 15 mol%, respectively. The created samples were exposed to radiation from four typical point sources: 214 Am (59.5 keV), 133 Ba (303 and 356 keV), 137 Cs (661.7 keV), and 60 Co (1173 and 1332.5 keV). A sodium iodide (NaI (TI)) scintillation detector (2" x 2 '') was used to measure the energy intensity. Experimental measurements and a calculation utilizing the WinXCOM database were used to determine the mass attenuation coefficient (mu/p) values for the prepared samples. Results: The findings of the experiment and the hypothesis were found to be highly similar. The sample with a combination of 15% ZnO and HDPE demonstrates superior efficacy in shielding against gamma radiation. The energy level of 1.332 MeV is associated with a 15% rise in the fraction of zinc oxide nanoparticles, which in turn leads to a 20% increase in the mass attenuation coefficient. Finally, it should be noted that the half value layer saw a decrease of 34% when the concentration of zinc oxide nanoparticles was increased by 15% at an energy level of 1.332 MeV.Conclusion: It can be deduced that the mass attenuation coefficient increased by 20% at 1.332 MeV with a 15% increase in the proportion of zinc oxide nanoparticles.