Comparative Analysis of Radiation Shielding Properties between Lead and Tetrafluoroethylene Propylene Reinforced with Sodium Bromide Salt

This research focuses on studying and investigating the properties of Tetrafluoroethylene Propylene reinforced with Sodium Bromide as a shielding material against high-energy X-ray and gamma radiation, and the results are compared with the properties of lead. The weight percentages of sodium bromide range from 10% to 50%. The mass attenuation coefficient, linear attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number, and effective electron density per gram of material were calculated using PSD software. Although the radiation attenuation properties of the polymer were weaker compared to lead, it can still be used in many conditions where lead is unsuitable. The findings indicate that the mass and linear attenuation coefficients are higher for low-energy photons, and the composites reinforced with higher percentages of sodium bromide exhibit higher values of these coefficients. The contribution of Compton scattering remains almost constant throughout the energy range, while the photoelectric effect dominates at low energies and pair production becomes increasingly dominant at higher energies. As the weight percentage of sodium bromide in the composite increases, the required thickness to halve the radiation intensity decreases. This makes composites with higher weight percentages of sodium bromide more efficient in radiation attenuation. The effective atomic number is also higher for composites with higher weight percentages of sodium bromide, indicating greater effectiveness in reducing radiation. Overall, Tetrafluoroethylene Propylene reinforced with Sodium Bromide shows promise as a material for radiation protection applications.