Determination of radiation attenuation coefficients of BaSO4/PVC and BaSO4/PS for X-ray shielding

Abstract

The X-ray radiation shielding properties of PVC and PS containing BaSO4 at different concentrations were investigated using the beam transmission method for X-ray tube with a CdTe detector. The mass attenuation coefficients (μm) of these shielding materials were calculated. It was found that the μm increased with the increasing of BaSO4 content up to a value of 60% by weight. The highest value of mass attenuation coefficients at 50 kV tube voltage was 5.985 cm2/g for the BaSO4/PVC sheet and 3.991 cm2/g for the BaSO4/PS sheet. The μm values were compared between BaSO4/PVC and BaSO4/PS. The results showed that BaSO4/PVC had better X-ray shielding performance than that for BaSO4/PS.