Shielding performance of multi-metal nanoparticle composites for diagnostic radiology: an MCNPX and Geant4 study.

Lead-free polymer composite shields are used in diagnostic radiology to protect patients from unnecessary radiation exposure. This study aimed to examine and introduce the radiation-shielding properties of single- and multi-metal nanoparticle (NP)-based composites containing Bi, W, and Sn using Geant4, MCNPX, and XCom for radiological applications. The mass attenuation coefficients and effective atomic numbers of single- and multi-metal NP-loaded polymer composites were calculated using the Geant4 and MCNPX simulation codes for X-ray energies of 20-140 keV.