In this study, the use of barium oxide particles and iron filings was
used to improve the attenuation properties against photons (X-ray and
gamma-ray). The shielding coefficients were calculated theoretically
using the Phy-X software, in addition to being determined
experimentally via a high-purity germanium semiconductor detector
at energies ranging from 0.060 to 1.333 MeV. Some parameters were
calculated such as the linear attenuation coefficient (cm-1
), mean free
path (cm), half- and tenth-value layers (cm), and the radiation
shielding efficiency (%). All of these parameters improved with an
increase in the percentage of barium oxide in the mortar composites.
There was good agreement between the theoretical and experimental
results, and the difference did not exceed 4%.