Evaluation of gamma ray attenuation properties of boron carbide (B4C) doped AISI 316 stainless steel: Experimental, XCOM and Phy-X/PSD database software

This study aimed to investigate the gamma-ray attenuation properties of AISI 316 stainless steel both experimentally and theoretically by doping different ratios of boron carbide. In the experimental measurements, a gamma spectroscopy system with a NaI(Tl) detector was used and Co-60, Cs-137 radioactive sources were used as gamma sources. In addition, it was calculated theoretically using XCOM and Phy-X/PSD database software. With the help of both experimental and theoretical results obtained, the effect of adding boron carbide to AISI 316 stainless steel on the change of the linear attenuation coefficients (LAC, mu) of the steel was investigated. Experimental LAC results for 3 different gamma energies of steels have been checked with the calculated theoretical LAC results by XCOM database using the chemical contents and density of the steel samples. It has been observed that the experimental and theoretical results are compatible with each other. Also, by using experimentally obtained LACs, half and tenth value layer thickness, mean free path and radiation protection efficiency parameters were calculated. In addition to these parameters, parameters such as equivalent atomic number (Z(eq)), effective atomic number (Z(eff)), exposure accumulation factor (EBF) were theoretically determined in the energy range of 0.015-15 MeV for steel samples produced using the Phy-X / PSD software. From the experimental results obtained, as the ratio of boron carbide in AISI 316 stainless steel increases, LACs and radiation protection efficiency (RPE) values decrease. Other parameters, transmission speed, HVL, TVL and MFP values increased with increasing boron carbide (B4C) ratio. It can be said that different processes are effective in different energy regions for the Z(eff), Z(eq) and EBF results obtained theoretically. From these data, it can be concluded that adding boron carbide to AISI 316 stainless steel reduces the steel's ability to attenuate gamma radiation.