Photon, charged particles, and neutron shielding properties of natural rubber/ SnO2 composites

The flexible shielding material based on natural rubber (NR) composites has been developed for radiation shielding materials. The natural rubber (NR) was prepared by incorporating Tin oxide (SnO2) with various loading levels. The addition content of SnO2 to natural rubber improved modulus at 100% elongation, hardness and specific gravity of natural rubber. while the tensile strength and elongation at break were reduced. The WinXCom program was used to calculate theoretical gamma ray shielding parameters. While, the Compton scattering technique was used to measure experimental values in the energy range of 0.223 MeV–0.662 MeV. The mass stopping power (MSP) and projected range (PR) have been simulated by SRIM coding for the proton and alpha particles. Moreover, the fast neutron shielding removal (FNSR) were calculated by Phy-X program. From the results, it was found that adding the SnO2 in the NR structure affected to increase of the photon, and charged particles, while the neutron shielding properties values decreased from adding the SnO2. These results reflect that the NR/SnO2 composites are suitable to apply as flexible radiation shielding materials. •New flexible shielding materials made from natural rubber (NR).•The μm, Zeff and Ne,eff increased with the increasing of SnO2.•MSP and PR values reduced with the increasing of SnO2.•Shielding properties show better than other radiation shielding materials.•Natural rubber/SnO2 composite is possible to use as radiation shielding materials.