Publication Details
Abstract
In this research, a number of compounds that can be used as shields against X-rays and gamma rays in various fields, such as hospitals, oncology treatment centres, and research fields such as scientific laboratories and nuclear facilities, were studied. Several attenuation properties (mass and linear attenuation coefficients, half-layer thickness, path rate, molecular, atomic, and electronic cross sections) were studied over the energy range of (0.01-100) MeV using the NIST XCOM database program for each of the compounds (CaWO4_- SnO2_- WO3_- BiOCl-CdWO4_ Ta2O5_ PbO2_ HfO2_ UO2_ and TaC). The results showed that some of these compounds possess good shielding properties, such as (TaC), which has a high attenuation coefficient, especially at low energies where the photoelectric effect dominates. The (SnO2) compound also demonstrated less shielding effectiveness than the other compounds due to its low energy density. Due to its low mass density and relatively medium atomic numbers compared to the rest of the compounds under study, the results also showed that the behaviour of the variables is almost similar, as their values decline quickly - except in cases of the appearance of the Compton edge or the absorption edge - and then a lesser response appears at high energies in which the phenomenon of pair production and triplet production