Assessment of Epoxy-Based Composite Reinforced with Nano Cerium Oxide for Gamma Rays Shielding

This study investigates the radiation shielding parameters of epoxy-based nano cerium oxide reinforced composites. Four samples of epoxy composites, including 60% epoxy, 10% antimony oxide, and 30% cerium oxide (in different sizes 30, 100, 200 and 200 + 30 nm), were prepared. LAC were measured experimentally through the narrow beam method at two energies, 0.0595 and 0.6617 MeV using Am-241 and Cs-137 radioactive point sources. Other shielding parameters like HVL, TVL, and TF were calculated and compared for the four samples. The results indicate that the presence of cerium oxide has improved the performance of the proposed epoxy composites in protection from gamma rays. Testing the particle size effect showed that the smaller size of cerium oxide dopant is more successful in attenuating the energy of the incident photons than the larger-sized particles. The 30 nm sample exhibits a higher LAC value than the samples with 100 and 200 nm CeO ₂ . The HVL was 0.1300, 0.1308, 0.1310 and 0.1296 for E-30 n, E-100 n, E-200 n and E-30 + 200, respectively. Interestingly, the sample containing half amount of CeO ₂ in 30 nm and the other half of CeO ₂ in 200 nm showed a slight improvement in shielding parameters (LAC, HVL, TVL and TF) between all samples due to the synergistic packing effect of the particles of varying sizes.