Gamma radiation shielding effectiveness of cellular woven fabrics

Lead-shielding products, such as lead aprons, are important materials for personal protection of physicians and patients from X-ray (gamma) radiation during medical operations. However, lead has environmental disadvantages such as high toxicity. The aim of this study was to manufacture an environmentally friendly and flexible textile-based radiation shielding material. In this work, 3/1 twill and some cellular woven fabrics were produced with conductive core yarns, and gamma radiation shielding effectiveness of these cellular woven fabrics were investigated and compared with that of the 3/1 twill woven fabric, which are commonly used as uniforms and were not studied previously in any other literature. The effects of weave on the structural characteristics of fabric such as the conductive weft yarn density, fabric thickness, and fullness were analyzed graphically and statistically. It is observed that with indenting and protruding, structure cellular woven fabrics performed better gamma radiation shielding performance than the 3/1 twill woven fabrics. The sample B1, woven with cellular weave 1, has the highest gamma radiation shielding effectiveness, thanks to the highest fabric thickness. In addition, the increase in the conductive core yarn density improved the gamma radiation shielding effectiveness of the woven fabrics.