Evaluation of Eco-friendly Shielding for Medical Electromagnetic Radiation Shielding

With the improvement in national income levels, the use of medical electromagnetic radiation has rapidly increased, resulting in a rise in medical radiation exposure. Currently, materials containing lead are mainly used as shielding agents for medical electromagnetic radiation. However, these materials are heavy, pose health risks to the human body, and cause environmental pollution, highlighting the need to develop new shielding materials. In this study, a hydrogel-based radiation shield, which is harmless to the human body, lightweight, and environmentally friendly, was fabricated and its performance was evaluated to analyze its applicability in clinical settings. When the radiation exposure dose was 2 mAs, the shielding efficiency at 40 kVp was highest for the bismuth material at 10.88%, followed by barium at 7.94%, tungsten at 7.35%, and iron at 1.47%. The pure hydrogel showed a shielding efficiency of 1.47%. At a radiation exposure dose of 16 mAs, the shielding efficiency of each material showed similar results at 60 kVp and 80 kVp as those at 40 kVp. Bismuth exhibited the best efficiency, followed by barium, tungsten, and iron. These results suggest that bismuth is expected to show the best efficiency when fabricating eco-friendly hydrogel-based shielding materials to prevent medical X- ray exposure. It is considered necessary to continue research on producing shielding materials by adding barium and tungsten.