Research Article
Gurpreet Kaur and Raj Mittal
Abstract
The feasibility of polymer waste like packaging bags has been explored as shielding material for Fe-55 source that emits 5.959 keV Mn K x-rays and for x-rays emitted from metals like Fe, Cu, Ni and Zn etc. used in the experimental setups. For this targets from waste material were used as absorber of 3.84, 5.959 and 8.67 keV K X-rays of Ca, Mn and Zn respectively. The x-rays were produced in a compact single reflection setup by irradiating Ca/Mn/Zn target with photons from a low power x-ray tube. A Si (PIN) detector with resolution 200 eV at 5.959 keV was used to record the K x-rays. Moreover, to know the constituting elements of the polymers, the spectra of photons emitted from the polymers on their irradiations with tube photons were recorded in the same setup. It is found that the presence of chlorine in polymer wastes has enhanced their capability to absorb the low energies. In comparison to known polymers; PVC, LDP, PP and PC, the waste materials were found superior with regard to their shielding characteristics