https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06730-1
Regular Article
Enhanced radiation protection: investigating the efficacy of polychloroprene filled with copper
Applied Chemistry Department, Faculty of Gas and Petroleum, Yasouj University, 75813-56001, Gachsaran, Iran
a
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Received:
12
April
2025
Accepted:
4
August
2025
Published online:
17
August
2025
Abstract
Lead has long been a commonly used material for radiation protection; however, its toxicity, weight, and flexibility limitations have prompted the exploration of alternative materials. This study focuses on Polychloroprene reinforced with varying weight fractions (10%, 20%, and 40%) of copper as a potential substitute. Utilizing the PY-MLBUF program, we evaluated key parameters including mass attenuation coefficient, linear attenuation coefficient, half-value layer, tenth value layer, atomic effective number, and electron effective number. Increasing the weight fraction of copper in the composite led to higher mass and linear attenuation coefficients while reducing the half-value and tenth value layers. Compared to lead, the radiation protection performance of the selected composites, particularly in terms of mass attenuation, displayed favorable results. Notably, within the energy range of 0.7–4 MeV, where Compton scattering dominates, the differences in mass attenuation coefficients between lead and the composites are minimal. At higher energies, where pair production becomes significant, and at lower energies, where the photoelectric effect dominates, the differences with lead increase; however, for the composite containing 40% copper, the attenuation performance remains within an acceptable range. Hence, for applications within this energy range, using Polychloroprene reinforced with copper emerges as a viable and effective choice.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
