Investigation of gamma and neutron radiation shielding properties of ceramics produced using some lanthanide compounds

The primary precaution that can be taken against any radiation hazard is shielding. Shielding is an important method used to reduce the harmful effects of radiation. Shield material is protective barriers produced for this purpose. When producing these protective barriers, the type and energy of radiation must be taken into account. This is because materials containing elements with high atomic numbers are used to attenuate high-energy photons, while materials with low atomic numbers are used to attenuate neutron particles. There are a few important points to consider in the production of armor material. It is convenient to list them as follows: i) easy production of armor material; ii) should not harm nature; iii) The cost should be cheap. Ceramic materials with these three important qualities are used as effective armor materials. In this study, different types of ceramics containing lanthanide compounds were produced using conventional methods to determine their usability as protective materials against ionizing gamma radiation.To investigate the ionized photon shielding properties of the fabricated materials, the photon intensities (I and I0) was experimentally measured at 81, 160, 223, 302, 356, and 383 keV energies emitted from 133Barium radioisotope, and then the mass attenuation coefficient (µρ), The linear attenuation coefficients (µ, cm-1), half-value thickness (Δ0.5), mean free path (λ), effective atomic numbers (Zeff) and electron densities (Nel) were derived experimentally. Obtained results were benchmarked with the calculated values from the EpiXS program. And also equivalent absorbed dose (EAD) values for fast neutrons were measured using BF3 gas proportional neutron detector from the Canberra NP-100B series and a 241Am/Be neutron source with a 10 mCi activity. In addition, fast neutron shielding parameters (ΣR) of ceramics were also computed theoretically. Keywords: Ceramic, Lanthanide compounds, Radiation, Radiation shielding