The determination of the total mass attenuation coefficients and the effective atomic numbers for concentrated colemanite and Emet colemanite clay

► Two type of colemanite mixtures as shielding materials. ► The mass attenuation coefficients versus chemical composition. ► Effective atomic number and electron density related photon energy ranging from 1 keV to 100 MeV. ► Revaluation of factories wastes with boron by using them in constructions instead of discharging to landfill. In this study, the attitude of some photon absorption energy related parameters such as coherent, Compton, photoelectric, pair-nuclear, pair-electronic, the total mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic number, and electron density are investigated for two the mixtures, concentrated colemanite and Emet colemanite clay. In order to reach some desired conclusions, we calculated many of these parameters ranging from low energy (1 keV) to high energy (100 MeV) by using WinXCom program. Radiation shielding of the materials are compared in terms of B 2O 3 content. One of the most significant promise claimed by this study is that the excess or scarcity of B 2O 3 content in any material may not be a defining parameter alone for environment, construction, radiation shielding, and neutron capture applications. As well as B 2O 3 content, concentration values from quantitative and qualitative analysis of other compounds such as SiO 2, CaO, MgO, Fe 2O 3, Al 2O 3, PbO, K 2O contained in a material, if existed, must be taken into account.