Fabrication and characterization of TiO2 reinforced polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite for simulation based gamma radiation shielding

IF 2.8 3区物理与天体物理 Q3 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL

Radiation Physics and Chemistry Pub Date : 2025-09-03 DOI:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2025.113270

Summan Urooge , Kashif Shahzad , Srosh Fazil , Khuram Liaqat , Ahsan Irshad , Fakhar Alam , Afrasiab Khan , Rehan Hassan , Mehboob Alam

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Gamma radiation shielding is essential to protect human health and equipment in medical, nuclear, and industrial environments, but conventional materials such as lead and concrete are heavy, rigid, and environmentally hazardous, motivating the development of lightweight, flexible, and effective alternatives like TiO₂/PDMS nanocomposites. This study investigates the gamma radiation shielding performance of PDMS nanocomposites reinforced with TiO₂ nanoparticles at 0, 3, 4, and 5 wt%. Nanocomposites were synthesized via hydrothermal method. The uniform dispersion and interaction of TiO₂ within the PDMS matrix were confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Shielding performance was evaluated experimentally using ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs, and ⁶⁰Co sources. The parameters including linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP) were quantified. Among all formulations, the 5 wt% TiO₂ composite exhibited the highest shielding efficiency, achieving a LAC of 0.13518 cm⁻¹, MAC of 0.11965 cm²/g at 356 keV and a HVL reduction from 6.54 cm in pure PDMS to 5.13 cm representing an improvement of 22 %. At 662 keV, the HVL decreased from 8.27 cm (pure PDMS) to 6.75 cm. The 5 wt% composite also showed the lowest TVL (18.88 cm at 356 keV) and shortest MFP (7.40 cm at 356 keV) across all energies tested. Simulation results closely matched experimental data, confirming that the high Z TiO₂ filler enhanced photon attenuation through photoelectric and Compton scattering mechanisms. These findings establish the 5 wt% TiO₂ PDMS nanocomposite as the optimal formulation, offering effective gamma shielding with mechanical flexibility, low density, and non toxicity suitable for medical, nuclear, and aerospace protective applications.

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基于模拟γ辐射屏蔽的TiO2增强聚二甲基硅氧烷纳米复合材料的制备与表征

伽马辐射屏蔽对于在医疗、核和工业环境中保护人类健康和设备至关重要，但铅和混凝土等传统材料重、刚性和对环境有害，这促使人们开发轻量级、柔性和有效的替代品，如TiO2/PDMS纳米复合材料。本研究考察了TiO2纳米颗粒在0、3、4和5 wt%时增强PDMS纳米复合材料的屏蔽γ辐射性能。采用水热法制备了纳米复合材料。通过x射线衍射（XRD）、傅里叶红外光谱（FTIR）和扫描电镜（SEM）等手段证实了TiO2在PDMS基体中的均匀分散和相互作用。用133Ba、137Cs和60Co源对屏蔽性能进行了实验评价。对线性衰减系数（LAC）、质量衰减系数（MAC）、半值层（HVL）、十值层（TVL）、平均自由程（MFP）等参数进行量化。在所有配方中，5 wt% TiO2复合材料表现出最高的屏蔽效率，在356 keV下实现了0.13518 cm - 1的LAC， 0.11965 cm2/g的MAC， HVL从纯PDMS的6.54 cm降低到5.13 cm，提高了22%。在662 keV时，HVL从8.27 cm（纯PDMS）下降到6.75 cm。在所有能量测试中，5 wt%的复合材料也显示出最低的TVL（在356 keV时为18.88 cm）和最短的MFP（在356 keV时为7.40 cm）。模拟结果与实验数据吻合较好，证实了高Z TiO2填料通过光电散射和康普顿散射机制增强了光子衰减。这些发现确定了5wt % TiO2 PDMS纳米复合材料是最佳配方，提供有效的伽马屏蔽，具有机械灵活性，低密度和无毒性，适合医疗，核和航空航天防护应用。

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来源期刊

Radiation Physics and Chemistry 化学-核科学技术

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

17.20%

发文量

574

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Radiation Physics and Chemistry is a multidisciplinary journal that provides a medium for publication of substantial and original papers, reviews, and short communications which focus on research and developments involving ionizing radiation in radiation physics, radiation chemistry and radiation processing. The journal aims to publish papers with significance to an international audience, containing substantial novelty and scientific impact. The Editors reserve the rights to reject, with or without external review, papers that do not meet these criteria. This could include papers that are very similar to previous publications, only with changed target substrates, employed materials, analyzed sites and experimental methods, report results without presenting new insights and/or hypothesis testing, or do not focus on the radiation effects.