Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 11;13(6):869.
doi: 10.3390/polym13060869.

Theoretical Determination of High-Energy Photon Attenuation and Recommended Protective Filler Contents for Flexible and Enhanced Dimensionally Stable Wood/NR and NR Composites

Worawat Poltabtim  1 , Donruedee Toyen  2 , Kiadtisak Saenboonruang  1   3
Affiliations

Theoretical Determination of High-Energy Photon Attenuation and Recommended Protective Filler Contents for Flexible and Enhanced Dimensionally Stable Wood/NR and NR Composites

Worawat Poltabtim et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

This work aimed to theoretically determine the high-energy-photon-shielding properties of flexible wood/natural rubber (NR) and NR composites containing photon protective fillers, namely Pb, Bi2O3, or Bi2S3, using XCOM. The properties investigated were the mass attenuation coefficient (µm), linear attenuation coefficient (µ), and half value layer (HVL) of the composites, determined at varying photon energies of 0.001-5 MeV and varying filler contents of 0-1000 parts per hundred parts of rubber by weight (phr). The simulated results, which were in good agreement with previously reported experimental values (average difference was 5.3%), indicated that overall shielding properties increased with increasing filler contents but decreased with increasing incident photon energies. The results implied the potential of bismuth compounds, especially Bi2O3, to replace effective but highly toxic Pb as a safer high-energy-photon protective filler, evidenced by just a slight reduction in µm values compared with Pb fillers at the same filler content and photon energy. Furthermore, the results suggested that the addition of 20 phr wood particles, primarily aimed to enhance the rigidity and dimensional stability of Pb/NR, Bi2O3/NR, and Bi2S3/NR composites, did not greatly reduce shielding abilities; hence, they could be used as dimensional reinforcers for NR composites. Lastly, this work also reported the optimum Pb, Bi2O3, or Bi2S3 contents in NR and wood/NR composites at photon energies of 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 5 MeV, with 316-624 phr of filler being the recommended contents, of which the values depended on filler type and photon energy of interest.

Keywords: Bi2O3; Bi2S3; Pb; X-ray; XCOM; gamma; natural rubber; photon; shielding; wood particles.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
µm values of (a,b) Bi2O3/NR and (c,d) Bi2O3/wood/NR composites with filler contents of 0, 400, and 800 phr, determined at photon energies of (a,c) 0.001–0.2 MeV and (b,d) 0.2–5 MeV using XCOM. Raw data are provided in the Supplementary Materials (Tables S1, S2, S3, S8, S9, and S10).
Figure 2
Figure 2
µm values of (a,b) Bi2S3/NR and (c,d) Bi2S3/wood/NR composites with filler contents of 0, 400, and 800 phr, determined at photon energies of (a,c) 0.001–0.2 MeV and (b,d) 0.2–5 MeV using XCOM. Raw data are provided in the Supplementary Materials (Tables S1, S6, S7, S8, S13, and S14).
Figure 3
Figure 3
µm values of (a,b) Pb/NR and (c,d) Pb/wood/NR composites with filler contents of 0, 400, and 800 phr, determined at photon energies of (a,c) 0.001–0.2 MeV and (b,d) 0.2–5 MeV using XCOM. Raw data are provided in the Supplementary Materials (Tables S1, S4, S5, S8, S11, and S12).
Figure 4
Figure 4
µm values of Bi2O3/NR, Bi2O3/wood/NR, Bi2S3/NR, Bi2S3/wood/NR, Pb/NR, and Pb/wood/NR composites with filler contents varied from 0–1000 phr, determined at photon energies of (a) 0.1 MeV, (b) 0.5 MeV, (c) 1 MeV, and (d) 5 MeV using XCOM.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scheme showing interactions of incident photons and NR composites for (a) a pristine NR, (b) and (c) NR composites containing radiation protective fillers (filler contents of (c) greater than (b)).
Figure 6
Figure 6
µm values of Pb, Bi2O3, Bi2S3, and ZnO, showing K-edge and L-edge behavior of Pb, Bi, and Zn at photon energies of (a) 0.001–0.2 MeV and (b) 0.2–5 MeV.
Figure 7
Figure 7
µ values of Bi2O3/NR, Bi2S3/NR, Pb/NR, Bi2O3/wood/NR, Bi2S3/wood/NR, and Pb/wood/NR composites at photon energies of (a) 0.1 MeV, (b) 0.5 MeV, (c) 1 MeV, and (d) 5 MeV.
Figure 8
Figure 8
HVL values of Bi2O3/NR, Bi2S3/NR, Pb/NR, Bi2O3/wood/NR, Bi2S3/wood/NR, and Pb/wood/NR composites at photon energies of (a) 0.1 MeV, (b) 0.5 MeV, (c) 1 MeV, and (d) 5 MeV.
Figure 9
Figure 9
%change in µ values at photon energies of (a) 0.1 MeV, (b) 0.5 MeV, (c) 1 MeV, and (d) 5 MeV after addition of 40-phr Bi2O3, Bi2S3, or Pb into Bi2O3/NR, Bi2S3/NR, Pb/NR, Bi2O3/wood/NR, Bi2S3/wood/NR, and Pb/wood/NR composites. Horizontal dotted lines represent the threshold set in this work to determine recommended filler contents (%change < 5%).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sakdinawat A., Attwood D. Nanoscale X-ray imaging. Nat. Photon. 2010;4:840–848. doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.267. - DOI
    1. Zhao C., Fezzaa K., Cunningham R.W., Wen H., De Carlo F., Chen L., Rollett A.D., Sun T. Real-time monitoring of laser powder bed fusion process using high-speed X-ray imaging and diffraction. Sci. Rep. 2017;7:3602. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03761-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smeets J., Roellinghoff F., Prieels D., Stichelbaut F., Benilov A., Busca P., Fiorini C., Peloso R., Basilavecchia M., Frizzi T., et al. Prompt gamma imaging with a slit camera for real-time range control in proton therapy. Phys. Med. Biol. 2012;57:3371–3405. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/57/11/3371. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fan F., Gao S., Ji S., Fu Y., Zhang P., Xu H. Gamma radiation-responsive side-chain tellurium-containing polymer for cancer therapy. Mater. Chem. Front. 2018;2:2109–2115. doi: 10.1039/C8QM00321A. - DOI
    1. Shin J.M., Kim B.K., Seol S.G., Jeon S.B., Kim J.S., Jun B.K., Kang S.Y., Lee J.S., Chung M.N., Kim S.H. Mutation breeding of sweet potato by gamma-ray radiation. Afr. J. Agric. Res. 2011;6:1447–1454.

LinkOut - more resources