Characterization and experimental investigation for gamma-ray shielding competence of basalt-doped polyethylene nanocomposites

Experimental investigations on gamma - rays attenuation parameters and dielectric spectroscopic properties were done on a polymeric mixture with chemical composition (100-x) polyethylene + x basalt, where x = 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, and 20 wt%. Using the melting blending technique,six nanocomposite polymeric samples were prepared. The linear attenuation coefficient mu of each prepared set of samples was measured using a gamma -ray spectrometer including High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) at energies 662.5, 1173.24, and 1332.51 keV. Based on the measured values of (mu) and sample density, the other effective shielding parameters were calculated. the values of mu showed an increase with increasing the dopant ratios from 0.0 up to 20.0 wt%. In addition, the mu values decreased with the photon's energy. The mu values were found 0.0847 up to 0.1175 cm - 1, 0.0571 up to 0.0855 cm - 1, and 0.0543 up to 0.075 cm- 1 at 662.5, 1173.24, and 1332.51 keV. for B0 up to B20, respectively. The ATR spectroscopy was done on the prepared samples, and a good evidence of adding the filler to the pure polyethylene (HDPE) was obtained. Besides, an enhancement in dielectric constant by insertion of basalt NPs also recorded and can be attributed to the large dielectric constant of basalt compared to pure HDPE.