Effect of Bi₂O₃/WO₃ on Improving the Ability of Polyepoxide-Based Composites to Attenuate Gamma Rays

This work aims to prepare a new series of polyepoxide resins reinforced with a mixture of WO₃ and Bi₂O₃ compounds. The effect of replacing WO₃ with by Bi₂O₃ on the radiation shielding parameters was experimentally evaluated using a NaI (Tl) detector and many radioactive sources, including ²²Na, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co, and ¹⁵²Eu. The linear attenuation coefficient for the prepared new polyepoxide-based composites was improved when substituting increasing amounts of WO₃ with Bi₂O₃. When increased from 2.164 to 2.943 cm⁻¹ (at 33 keV) and from 0.073 to 0.104 cm⁻¹ (at 1332 keV), the Bi₂O₃ concentration in the prepared composites varied from 0 to 10 wt%, respectively. The substitution of WO₃ with Bi₂O₃ greatly improved the shielding parameters of the fabricated composites. The half-value thickness, transmission factor, and lead-equivalent thickness were observed to decrease with increasing concentrations of Bi₂O₃ in the fabricated composites.