Simulation studies for gamma ray shielding properties of Halloysite nanotubes using MCNP-5 code

Halloysite clay is a mineral found in natural and it has many applications in chemistry (for catalytic and extraction) and also in the medical field (for drugs delivery), so it is important to study the shielding properties of natural and modified nanotube Halloysite. The mass attenuation coefficient was simulated for natural Halloysite clay mineral and four others modified halloysite nanotubes using MCNP 5 code for incident gamma ray energies between 0.015 and 15 MeV. The mass attenuation coefficient was also calculated using the XCOM database for studied samples in the same energy range. The results obtained by the MCNP simulation were close to those obtained by XCOM calculation. Moreover, other shielding properties that described the interaction of incident gamma rays with Halloysite composites, such as the HVL, MFP, Z_eff, and N_eff were calculated using the simulated μ_m for gamma rays between 0.015 and 15 MeV.