Study of the structure and radiation-protective properties of yttrium barium copper oxide ceramic doped with different oxides

Abstract In this research, we study the structure and radiation shielding performances of YBCO-123 ceramics doped with different oxides. Specimens were made using the solid-state reaction route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results disclosed that the different ceramics crystallized into an orthorhombic structure with Pmmm symmetry. The structural parameters including the lattice parameters, lattice volume, orthorhombicity distortion were estimated. The results showed that the various doping oxides doped ceramic caused a disturbance in the YBCO-123 orthorhombic crystal structure. The radiation shielding attitudes for the three ceramics were investigated with the help of the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation between 0.224 and 2.506 MeV. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of the three investigated ceramics was simulated and discussed in terms of the energy of the photon and the composition of the ceramics. A decreasing trend is found between LAC and gamma photon energy. S1’s LAC decreases from 1.487 cm-1 to 0.627 cm-1, 0.374 cm-1, and 0.341 cm-1 for 0.224 MeV, 0.511 MeV, 1.173 MeV, and 1.408 MeV, respectively. The S2 ceramic has the greatest LAC, while the S3 sample has the least. At 2.506 MeV, S1 has an LAC of 0.268 cm-1, S2 has an LAC of 0.309 cm-1, and S3 has an LAC of 0.235 cm-1. Since the S2 sample has the highest LAC at all selected energies, it can be concluded that this ceramic is the most effective at attenuating gamma radiation. Also, the relation length (λ) for the three ceramics was investigated. The λ result is in line with the LAC and confirmed that S2 ceramic has the greatest shielding ability for the applications of radiation shielding. The transmission factor (TF) was discussed and the influence of the thickness of the ceramics and the energy of the photon was reported. We found that the S1-S3 ceramics have the lowest TF at the lowest tested energy and the greatest at the highest tested energy. The TF for S2 is equal to 0.608% at 0.224 MeV, 27.433% at 1.173 MeV, and 30.778% at 1.408 MeV. The TF of the ceramics follows the order of S2