Synergistic effect of WO3 and brine sludge on the thermal behavior and radiation shielding capability of flexible PVC composites

In this work, different flexible PVC composites doped with WO 3 , red clay and brine sludge were fabricated for gamma-ray shielding applications. The radiation shielding properties of these composites were determined experimentally at different energies (0.059, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.332 MeV). The experimental data were compared with theoretical Phy-x values, where the observed deviation between them didn’t exceed 5%. The results showed that as the content of red clay and WO 3 increased in the composites, the values of LAC increased where the composite containing 15 and 20% of red clay and WO 3 (PSRW-20) exhibited the highest LAC values (1.481, 0.140, 0.102, and 0.095 cm −1 at 0.059, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.332 MeV, respectively). Furthermore, the PSRW-20 composite showed the lowest values of HVL and TVL (0.468 and 1.555 cm) at 0.059 MeV which confirmed efficiency of these composites as low cost and sustainable materials in the low energy shielding applications.