Influence of Compton scattering and pair production in radiation shielding of Eu-doped Bi-2223 ceramics

The gamma-ray attenuation behavior of europium (Eu)-doped Bi-2223 ceramic superconductors has been investigated in detail in this work in the photon energy range of 59.54 to 1332 keV. The WinXcom database was used to rigorously estimate the mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ), which are the main quantifiers of the probability of photon–matter interaction. Stochastic modeling based on the EGS4 Monte Carlo transport technique was then used to confirm the results. Key shielding metrics such as the mean free path (MFP), radiation protection efficiency (RPE), half-value layer (HVL), and gamma-ray kerma coefficients (kγ) are derived from these coefficients and offer information about the material’s inherent ability to dissipate or attenuate incident photon flux. Additionally, the effective atomic number (Zeff) was established to elucidate the role of compositional heterogeneity and atomic cross-section weighting in regulating photon absorption and scattering probabilities. Concurrently, the macroscopic fast neutron removal cross-sections (ΣR) were computed to measure the dual shielding capacity of the ceramics being studied against electromagnetic radiation and neutrons. The findings showed that although Eu doping led to a minor increase in the effective atomic number and μ/ρ values at lower photon energy, it also resulted in greater HVL and MFP values, particularly at higher energies. The total shielding performance decreases due to the decrease in bulk density, even though the addition of Eu results in better mass attenuation coefficients. The μ/ρ values of Eu-doped Bi-2223 ceramics exhibit high agreement and increase from 2.753 to 3.212 cm2 g−1 at 59.54 keV with increasing Eu content. These values were produced using EGS4 simulations and verified using WinXCOM in the 59.54–1332 keV energy range. This suggests that europium’s higher atomic number enhances photon absorption at lower energies. The study also demonstrates that the Eu-0 sample has the strongest neutron shielding capabilities and the highest radiation protection efficiency (RPE).