effect of titanium dioxide addition on radiation shielding properties of pumice-iron sand composite mortar

This study investigated the effect of adding 4%-20% tio2 to a pumice-iron sand composite mortar sample in the development of radiation shielding materials. it focuses on the effective atomic number, porosity, attenuation coefficient, protection efficiency, and spectral attenuation behavior based on xcom and geant4 simulation via 108 monoenergetic gamma photons of 0.356 mev, 0.511 mev, 0.662 mev, 0.835 mev, 1.115 mev, 1.173 mev, 1.275 mev, 1.333 mev, and 1.461 mev. the study results show that the tio2 enhancement identified at increased titanium content in composite constituent elements caused an increase in the effective atomic number. the lowest porosity was observed at an 8% tio2 addition, as indicated by the photopeak height in the energy spectrum of the absorbed energy. adding tio2 increases the average lac over 0% tio2 composite mortar samples by 1.1%, 2.3%, 3.8%, 5.1%, and 6.6% for 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%, and 20% tio2 addition, respectively. the same trend of the increased lac is also evident in the geant4 simulation, i.e., 1.5%, 2.6%, 5%, 5.8%, and 7.2%. an increase in tio2 levels increases the rpe, while an increase in photon energy decreases the rpe. the trend is in line with the photon energy absorption in the composite sample. on the energy absorption spectrum of the composite, double escape peaks were identified at 0.258 mev, 0.313 mev, and 0.440 mev for 1.275 mev, 1.333 mev, and 1.461 mev energies, respectively. the energy absorption of the composite mortar was strongly dependent on the effective atomic number of the composites.