Development of textile based wall coverings for nuclear protection

Tez Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Nanobilim ve Nanomühendislik, Türkiye

Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. Mustafa Erol

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2023

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

Nuclear radiation, in other terms ionizing radiation, can be generated from natural sources or human facilities such as nuclear energy plants, medical applications, research activities, nuclear weapon usage etc. To prevent the adverse effects of ionizing radiation; the efforts of producing effective, low cost, durable and nontoxic radiation shields are still in progress. Currently, mostly used commercially available radiation shields are produced using lead or lead compounds due to their low cost,abundance and high shielding property. However, high toxicity, some technical limitations and adverse environmental effects of lead induced the searches for less toxic and environmentally-friendly radiation shield components. Therefore, within the context of this master thesis, non-lead radiation shields in the form of composite polymer coated textile fabrics were produced to be used as wall-coverings against gamma-radiation. Bismuth oxide and red mud powders were utilized as the low toxic and cheap additive alternatives to the lead/lead compounds. Coated samples with different loadings of additives were successfully produced and tested against Am-241 and Cs-137 radiation sources. The results were promising as nuclear radiation shieldings up to 38.8 % could be achieved.