Valorization of black sand zircon for developing cost-effective polymer composites for multi-radiation shielding

Modern aerospace, nuclear, and medical fields demand flexible and lightweight multi-radiation shields. We developed a lead-free PVA/PEG/MC polymer matrix to serve this issue. We reinforced the blend with natural (ZrSiO 4 ) extracted from Egyptian black sand deposits (15–30 wt%) and nano-Fe 2 O 3 (2 wt%). Structural analyses (XRD and FTIR) confirmed the successful incorporation of the fillers and suggested possible interfacial interactions within the polymer matrix . Mechanically, this integration enhanced the material's durability, increasing the ultimate tensile strength by over 140% compared to the pure polymer. Additionally, the photon attenuation parameters of the fabricated composites were measured experimentally using an HPGe spectrometer and standard radioactive sources ( 1 3 3 B a ; 1 3 7 C s , 6 0 C o ), and the results were validated against MCNP5 simulations and PHY-X/PSD calculations. Furthermore, the fast-neutron shielding capability was numerically evaluated via the effective removal cross-section ( Σ 𝑅 ), while the charged-particle shielding performance was theoretically evaluated using the SRIM and ESTAR codes. The fully doped composite containing 30 wt% zircon and 2 wt% nano-Fe 2 O 3 (BZ30-F) successfully reduced the half-value layer at 0.662 MeV by ≈ 23%. The effective removal cross-section (Σ R ) for fast neutrons increased by 10.4%. Furthermore, computations from SRIM and ESTAR indicated that the optimized composite (BZ30-F) reduced the range of 10 MeV protons by 19% μm, suggesting improved blocking of energetic particles in a smaller layer. In conclusion, polymer Blend-Zircon–nano-Fe 2 O 3 (BZF) composites are a promising, eco-friendly, and cost-effective solution to lower mixed radiation fields without adding prohibitive weight.