Evaluation of the radiation protection capability of a low density and non-Lead composite shield using Monte Carlo model

Background: this study aimed to evaluate the capability of a novel non-lead composite shield with a lower density compared to commercial lead shield to protect against 10-100 kev x-ray. materials and methods: in the present study, monte carlo calculations were performed to study the attenuation properties of a composite designed shield. for this reason, the attenuation rate of 8-material alloy including tungsten, bismuth, barium, gadolinium, cesium, cerium, tin, and antimony elements was compared to the 8-layers combination of these elements. tungsten, gadolinium, cerium, and bismuth were selected to simulate 4-layer and an alloy shields. the resulting x-ray fluence spectra attenuated by the designed shields were calculated. results: preliminary results showed that at the energy of 68 kev, the attenuation value by the 8-layer composition was 2.6 times higher than the value achievable by the alloy. it should be noted that the attenuation of 4-layer shield combined from tungsten, gadolinium, cerium and bismuth in the energy range of 72-100 kev, was 3.5 times higher than that of the alloy shield built from these elements. conclusions: according to the results, a combination of tungsten, gadolinium, cerium, and bismuth materials can be effectively used to create non-lead shields. the four-layer shield with higher density offers better attenuation compared to the alloy shield.