By using innovative approaches in material science and the artificial intelligence tools developed following these developments, it is possible to obtain information about materials that have not yet been produced or have only been produced as samples. Ionizing radiation is a type of radiation frequently used in industry and medicine, and its use requires taking precautions. These precautions consist of three rules: time, distance, and shielding. Within the scope of this study, the attenuation properties of polymeric materials using XCOM and PHY-X/PSD were investigated and compared, especially for shielding needs.
Analysis of data using geometric modeling and computer-aided graphics tools in industrial
areas reveals multivariate data structures that can form the basis of artificial intelligence
applications [
Polymethyl methacrylate polymer, formed by the polymerization of methyl methacrylate
monomer, was supported by sodium decahydrate additive during the polymerization stage to
obtain polymethyl methacrylate-borax composite [
The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient© 2025 Copyright for this
paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0). (MAC), half value layer (HVL), and tenth value layer (TVL) of the base material
polymethyl methacrylate and PMMA/Borax composite were calculated. µ in the Lambert-Beer
equation [
The other parameters half value layer and tenth value layer, represent material thicknesses
that reduce the intensity of incoming gamma photons by half and one-tenth [
I = I 0 exp ( µx ) ,
HVL= ln 2 ,
µ TVL= ln 10 , µ (1) (2) (3)
The XCOM program was developed with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and calculates the mass attenuation coefficient depending on the material weight and radiation energy.
The above steps are repeated for all materials and radiation sources. In this above example, the Cs-137 gamma source’s energy, 662 keV, was used. In addition to this example, the base PMMA, and 7% Borax doped PMMA were used. Linear attenuation coefficient, HVL, TVL calculations, and obtained from XCOM values are given next chapter.
The PHY-X/PSD program is more user-friendly than the XCOM program, and calculates all parameters of shielding like linear attenuation coefficient, mass attenuation coefficient, half value, and tenth value layer. This is a huge advantage for time-saving. Another difference between the two programs is that in the PHY-X/PSD program, material density and weight fraction must be given, while in the XCOM program, only the weight is important.
The above steps run determining chemical formulas, density, weight fractions, and radiation sources. Transferring the calculation outputs to Excel can be considered as another advantage. At this point, transferring to Excel will make it easier to work on the results. Energy MAC LAC HVL TVL MeV cm²/g 1/cm cm cm 6,62E-01 Cs (137) 0,08310 0,09091 7,62436 25,32758 Figure 6: An example, PHY-X/PSD program Excel output for all parameters for 2% Borax doped Poly (methyl methacrylate).
4.1.
The mass attenuation coefficient gives information about the rate of photons removed per unit mass from absorber materials. Let’s keep on the linear attenuation coefficient results.
The linear attenuation coefficient is a constant that describes the extent to intensity of the beam decreases per unit of thickness. Both tables 2 and 3 show, that when the mass attenuation coefficient increases by doped effect, the linear attenuation coefficient decreases or opposites. 4.3.
(cm)
When we look at the difference between the two programs, we can say that the differences do
not even reach the level of ten per thousand and these differences can be ignored, therefore the
programs are of a quality that replaces each other and even the PHY-X/PSD program is superior
due to its advantages. This comparative examination shows that both programs can be used
interchangeably and PMMA used as polymer and borax added can be used for gamma absorption.
Certainly, the actual values of these theoretically evaluated examples will vary. However, the
differences that are likely to be caused by many parameters such as material homogeneity, density,
and impurity are expected to be quite small. The study shows that the PHY-X program gives faster
results as an alternative to XCOM and GEANT-4 and that various results can be obtained with the
additive material added to a polymer material. It is obtained to evaluate the approximate results of
the composites to be produced before production by saving material. Geometric modeling has a
high potential as a tool to represent system behavior with minimal projection requirements. Such a
framework offers promising compatibility with artificial intelligence techniques aimed at
optimizing material-aware system performance [
Declaration on Generative AI During the preparation of this study, the authors used Grammarly software to identify and correct grammatical and spelling inaccuracies. Following this process, they undertook a meticulous review of the text, made the requisite revisions, and accepted whole responsibility for the final content of this publication.