Impact of lead(II) iodide on radiation shielding properties of polyester composites

This paper investigates the radiation shielding properties, such as linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half and tenth value layers, effective atomic number and electron density, and radiation protection efficiency as a function of photon energy, of a new composite, PbI2-doped polyester. The mentioned polyester composite was prepared with different proportions of lead(II) iodide (5% increments between 5 and 20%) so that impact of the dopant amount on radiation shielding could be properly analyzed. The prepared composites were tested in 22 different energies in the energy range of 59.5–1408.0 keV with the use of HPGe detector and eight radioactive point sources. The obtained results were further validated by comparing the results of XCOM computer program, and negligible discrepancies were observed. It was observed that PbI2 (20%) composite is more effective gamma radiation shielding material than other produced composites. In light of this information, it can be said that the shielding efficiency increases with increasing lead(II) iodide amount.