Experimental, theoretical, and biological investigations on radiation shielding parameters of boron-doped cerrobend alloys

ABSTRACT This experimental and theoretical study investigated the efficiency of radiation absorption by Cerrobend alloy with varying concentrations of B4C compound. Four blocks were prepared containing 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% B4C, respectively. The study examined radiation attenuation characteristics, including the mass attenuation coefficient, linear attenuation coefficient, half-value layer thickness, and mean free path, as well as radiobiological consequences for each block, using photon energies of 6 and 15 MeV. It has been observed that the rise in the quantity of B4C leads to a decrease in the material’s ability to absorb photons. The highest mass attenuation coefficient at 6 MeV energy was S1 with 0.0432 cm2/g. The half-value layer of samples S2 and S3 exhibited a larger magnitude compared to samples S1. The tenth-value layer findings obtained with photons with 15 MeV energy were S0 < S1 < S2 < S3. In the experiments with photons with 6 MeV energy, the mean free path value of sample S1 was relatively lower than other samples. The experimental results were consistent with the data obtained from GAMOS and XCOM. Experiments and theoretical studies have shown that the Cerrobend alloy’s photon absorption properties are very similar to those of pure Cerrobend when it is doped with 5 wt% B4C.