Study Of The Effectiveness Of Combined Radiation Protection Of Steel And Snail Mucus With Variable Mucus Thickness

Abstract

Due to health and environmental concerns associated with the use of conventional radiation shielding materials such as lead and concrete, there is a growing need for environmentally friendly and effective alternatives. This study investigated the combined gamma-ray shielding effectiveness of steel and snail mucus, focusing on how variations in mucus thickness affect the attenuation capability. It is hypothesized that snail mucus, which is rich in glycoprotein and mucin-based compounds, possesses natural attenuation properties due to its viscous organic composition. The experiments were conducted at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, using a cesium-137 gamma-ray source and a RADOS Universal Radiation Sensing System (RDS-120). Five steel plates of varying thickness were coated with varying weights of snail mucus (ranging from 0.64 g to 2.56 g) and allowed to dry. They were compared to uncoated steel control samples subjected to the same gamma irradiation. The readings were repeated three times to ensure accuracy. The results showed that the transmitted radiation of the steel samples coated with snail mucus was consistently reduced, with the attenuation values ​​improving with increasing mucus quality and steel thickness. For example, at 14.3 mm thickness, the steel/slime composite shielded 9.06 μSv/h more than the control sample, while at 23.6 mm thickness, the shielding difference was 4.96 μSv/h. The results showed that snail slime improves the radiation attenuation properties of steel and significantly increases shielding efficiency, especially when the thickness is optimized. This suggests that snail slime may be a promising environmentally friendly additive in radiation protection applications. Further research on its long-term stability, interaction with other metals, and potential scalability is recommended to evaluate its feasibility in industrial and medical radiation protection.

Keywords: Radiation Shielding,Snail Slime,Gamma Ray Attenuation