Characterization of Tungsten Carbide and Bismuth Tungstate Nanostructured Composites for High-Energy Photon Attenuation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Physics department, Education College, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad-Iraq

Abstract

The novelty and significance of the multilayer shielding design is introduced in current paper. Two dense nontoxic powders were utilized to fabricate gamma attenuation shielding. Tungsten carbide (WC) and bismuth tungstate were deposited on 316L SS discs separately by electrophoretic and dip coating techniques.  Four samples were synthesized. The first sample consists of ten coated discs with WC and fixed by epoxy. The second sample is like the first one, but the coating material is bismuth tungstate. The third and fourth samples were a mixture of epoxy, 316L SS micropowder plus WC, and bismuth tungstate, respectively. The hydrothermal technique was used to prepare bismuth tungstate. Bismuth tungstate powder was characterized using the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that the average particle size of bismuth tungstate was about 60 nm. Shielding properties like linear absorption coefficient (LAC), transmission factor percentage (T%), and radiation protection efficiency (RPE%) were calculated for all samples. The coating of 316L SS plates with WC and bismuth tungstate nanoparticles increases LAC. The incorporation of these nanoparticles and micro 316L SS into the epoxy matrix significantly enhanced the composites' ability to attenuate gamma radiation, as demonstrated by the increased LAC. The result confirms the importance of having high atomic numbers with high density of materials that make up shield, and the presence of voids in these materials will greatly weaken them even if the atomic numbers are high.

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© 2026 The Author(s). Progress in Physics of Applied Materials published by Semnan University Press. This is an open access article under the CC-BY 4.0 license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 May 2026
  • Revise Date: 24 May 2026
  • Accept Date: 31 May 2026

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