Assessment of Fe_xSe_0.5Te_0.5 alloy properties for ionizing radiation shielding applications: an experimental study

We investigate the radiation shielding properties of Fe_xSe_0.5Te_0.5 (0.95 ≤ x ≤ 1.05) polycrystalline samples prepared by a conventional solid state reaction method. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) was measured experimentally, and the obtained results are then benchmarked with the simulated data from XCOM (Photon cross sections database). The experimental results exhibit a reasonable correlation with the XCOM data with relative difference between 0.4 and 4.1%. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K–S) test further ascertained from a statistical point of view that the experimentally measured data matched very well the data obtained from the XCOM with the maximum vertical deviation (D_n) between 0.33% and 1.17% in all samples. Based on the MAC, different radiation shielding parameters such as linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), transmission factor (TF), and radiation protection efficiency (RPE) were determined for all investigated alloys. The results indicate that the Fe_0.95Se_0.5Te_0.5 (x = 0.95) sample has superior shielding features compared to other iron content samples. These findings suggest that this alloy can be used in the ionizing radiation shielding applications.