A study of gamma attenuation property of UHMWPE/Bi2O3 nanocomposites

Abstract In this study, nanocomposite material made of ultra-high molecular weight and bismuth oxide was developed to be used for protection from nuclear radiation. The traditional hot-pressing technique was used for preparing composite samples. The concentrations of Bi 2 O 3 were selected to be 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 wt%. In order to study the changes in surface morphology, we examined all samples by scanning electron microscopic (SEM). We evaluated the semi-quantitative of all elements used to fabricate these samples using EDX. Additionally, all samples including pure Bi 2 O 3 has been examined with X-ray diffraction (XRD). Besides that, Raman spectroscopy of all synthesized polymer matrix was measured to explore the different molecular groups. Also, the photon attenuation ability for the present samples was measured experimentally at eight energies varying from 30.8 keV to 383.9 keV using 133 Ba radioactive point source.