Experimental and theoretical investigation into X-ray shielding properties of thin lead films

Background: Among all of the radiations, X-ray has been always the center of attention due to the increasing availability of the X-ray tubes in industry, research institutes and medical centers. In this study, X-ray shielding properties of bulk and nanostructured thin lead films were investigated by means of Monte-Carlo computational and experimental methods, respectively. Materials and Methods: The lead samples were fabricated by the Physical Vapor Deposition technique (PVD) with different thickness of 10, 100 and 1000 nm. To investigate the radiation shielding properties of the nanostructured thin films, all of the prepared samples were subjected to the X-ray ranging from 8 to 14 keV. In order to consider the shielding properties of the bulk-structured thin films, the Monte-Carlo MCNPX code was employed. Results: The results indicated that, for low X-ray energies, the nanostructured thin lead films attenuate more than bulk-structured samples; however, the difference disappears as film thickness increases to 1000 nm or X-ray energy reaches 14 keV. Conclusion: Results imply that the nanostructured thin lead films attenuate more photons than the bulk-structured thin lead films with the same thicknesses.