Ionizing radiation shielding properties of ceramic fibers using Monte Carlo simulation

In this research, we investigated the protective characteristics of ionizing rays (gamma and neutron) of Nextel-312, Nextel-440, Nextel-550, Nextel-720 ceramic fibers using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation tool. In this study, parameters related to photon attenuation such as: mass attenuation coefficient (𝜇m), half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) in the range of 0.015 to 15 MeV and the absorption cross section of fast neutrons for different energy levels were calculated. To validate the simulation results, we compared them with the results extracted from the XMuDat database, which shows that they are in good agreement with each other. The agreement between the data extracted from the XMuDat database and the results of the simulations of this study shows that Monte Carlo modeling is a good method to investigate the properties of gamma ray shielding. Also, the obtained results of ceramic fibers show more effective attenuation parameters in addition to physical properties compared to conventional protective materials such as concrete. Due to its higher density, Nextel-720 ceramic has the most favorable condition compared to other investigated ceramics.