ABSTRACT The present study deals with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber composites reinforced with tungsten and antimony fillers for gamma‐ray shielding applications. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) was computed using XMuDat and Phy‐X tools, while additional shielding parameters, including the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mean free path (MFP), half‐value layer (HVL) thickness, tenth‐value layer (TVL), effective atomic number ( Z eff ), and effective electron density ( N eff ), were estimated to provide a comprehensive assessment of shielding performance over a broad photon energy range of 1–50,000 keV. For all compositions, MAC values decrease with increasing photon energy, consistent with reduced photon–matter interaction probability at higher energies. Across the investigated energy range, MAC values vary from 2301.63 to 0.0188 cm 2 /g for the unfilled sample (S0) and increase progressively with filler loading, reaching 5490.00–0.0330 cm 2 /g for the highest‐filled composite (S6) in the said energy range. Composites containing higher heavy‐metal content exhibit enhanced MAC and LAC values, with reduced HVL, TVL, and MFP, confirming improved gamma‐ray attenuation, particularly in the low‐energy photon region. A comparative analysis of MAC values obtained from XMuDat and Phy‐X demonstrates excellent agreement between the two tools. Average percentage deviations range from 0.26% to 0.70% at low energies, 0.039%–0.16% at medium energies, and 0.19%–1.03% in the high‐energy region, with overall deviations remaining below 1%. While XMuDat provides higher precision due to finer energy resolution, Phy‐X offers broader multi‐parameter evaluation with consistent accuracy. Overall, the results indicate that PDMS/W/Sb composites are promising candidates for flexible, lead‐free radiation shielding applications.
Prasannakumar et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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