Structural, thermal characteristics, and radiation shielding properties of FeWO4 nanoparticles doped PVB films

This study presents transparent, flexible, lead-free polyvinyl butyral (PVB) films that utilize FeWO₄ nanoparticles to substantially enhance gamma-photon attenuation properties and thermal stability, thereby facilitating the development of lightweight shielding materials. Herein, PVB films doped with FeWO₄ (0%, 1%, 2%, and 3 wt.%) were synthesized via the solution casting technique. XRD demonstrated that FeWO₄ NPs possess a monoclinic primitive structure with a crystallite size of 47 nm. EDX and SEM were used to evaluate the morphology and elemental composition of the FeWO₄ NPs. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that incorporating FeWO₄ markedly improved the thermal stability of PVB films. The linear attenuation coefficient for gamma rays, ranging from 0.02 MeV to 15 MeV, was simulated using the MCNP6 code. The results indicate that the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) rises progressively with increasing FeWO₄ content, particularly at low to intermediate gamma energies, accompanied by a decrease in both the half-value layer (HVL) and the mean free path (MFP) relative to pure PVB. MCNP6 simulation data align with the obtained Phy-X/PSD calculations and XCOM databases, indicating strong cross-validation among methods. The effective electron number, N_eff, increases with FeWO₄ content at photon energies where photoelectric and Compton processes dominate. The Fast neutron removal cross section (FNRCS) values of PVB/FeWO₄ nanocomposites increased by incorporating FeWO₄ NPs. PVB/FeWO₄ nanocomposites are proposed as an alternative to ecologically friendly and lead-free materials for radiation shielding.