LAUSR

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films containing magnetite Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been prepared by co-precipitation method for use in gamma ray shielding and protection. Characterizations of the magnetite/PVA nanocomposite films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis spectroscopy, and magnetization measurements. TEM images showed that the synthesized magnetite particles had about 6–11 nm dimensions. Optical study's results revealed that the optical energy band gaps of thin films range between 1.82 and 2.81 eV at room temperature using UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The saturation magnetization (MS) value measured by vibrating sample magnetometer VSM was found to be 8.1 emu/g with superparamagnetic nature. The radiation shielding properties such as linear attenuation coefficients (μ) and half-value thickness (HVT) for the magnetite nanocomposite films have been obtained experimentally for different photon energies. The results imply that these nanocomposites films are promising radiation shielding materials. POLYM. COMPOS., 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers