Study the radiation attenuation properties of MgO/barite composite ceramics for photon shielding applications

Five ceramic samples have been considered termed as S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 on the purpose of radiation shielding. Ceramic sample S1 specifies pure MgO (100 wt %) with no other addition of Barite (BaSO4), yet another samples S2, S3, S4, and S5 have been considered 10 wt %, 20 wt %, 30 wt %, and 50 wt % of Barite (BaSO4) instead of MgO. Few shielding parameters such as linear attenuation coefficients (LAC), effective atomic number (Zeff), equivalent atomic number (Zeq) and radiation absorption ratio (RAR) were calculated through Geant4 code and experimental technique for the interest of evaluating the radiation shielding strength of the considered ceramic samples. The value of LAC of the considered ceramic samples via Experimental and Geant4 code were found a negligible difference. Considered ceramic samples S5 presents the most suitable radiation shielding capacity comprising rest of the ceramic samples according to the value of LAC for low energy. Considered ceramic sample S5 with the composition of [MgO (50%)- BaSO4 (50%)] were provided lowest value of HVL, TVL, and MFP. Hence, the obvious concern is that greater amount of Barite (BaSO4) lift up the shielding ability MgO ceramic in place of MgO.