Tungsten-ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) composite as a gamma rays shielding material

Abstract

Lead is a highly toxic metal, also heavy in personal shielding. This negative aspect decline us to search for alternative shielding material that is free of toxic effect, environment friendly, lighter and easy to use individually. Polymer, being lighter, may constitute an alternative to lead, but it has a much lower density and does not serve in gamma shielding by it. Therefore, high density tungsten could be added to polymer in order to shield gamma rays. In this study ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and tungsten were mixed in certain amounts and thus discs have been produced from this mixture. The results show that EVA-Tungsten composite is an effective shielding material for gamma shielding.