Exploring green environmental composites as hosts for shielding materials using experimental, theoretical and Geant4...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nuclear Engineering
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Rice straw is an abundant agricultural waste posing environmental concerns.
• Developing sustainable materials from agricultural waste is crucial for waste management and resource utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare and characterize novel composites using rice straw as a matrix for radiation shielding applications.
• To evaluate the mechanical and gamma-ray shielding properties of rice straw-based composites.

Main Methods:

• Composites were fabricated by mixing rice straw with animal glue (RS-An) and polyvinyl acetate (RS-PVA_C).
• Material characterization included energy dispersive X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy.
• Mechanical properties were assessed via stress-strain testing.
• Gamma-ray shielding performance was experimentally determined using NaI(Tl) detectors and various gamma-ray sources.
• Theoretical calculations were performed using XCOM software, and simulations were conducted with Geant4 Monte Carlo code.

Main Results:

• Rice straw composites exhibited mechanical strengths of 25.2 MPa (RS-An) and 25.5 MPa (RS-PVA_C).
• Experimental, theoretical (XCOM), and simulated (Geant4) results for mass attenuation coefficients showed good agreement.
• Rice straw-animal glue composites displayed enhanced gamma-ray shielding properties compared to rice straw-polyvinyl acetate composites.

Conclusions:

• Rice straw can be effectively utilized as a low-cost matrix for developing radiation shielding composites.
• The developed composites, particularly RS-An, offer promising gamma-ray attenuation capabilities.
• This research contributes to sustainable waste management and the development of eco-friendly radiation shielding materials.