radiation shielding materials

If you work as a radiologist, you need to know what the best radiation shielding materials are. You are exposed to much more radiation than the average person. Many of you don’t take these risks seriously and it can really hurt you in the long run.

Throughout your career, you are going to run thousands of scans. Even the amount of radiation you are exposed to in each scan is limited, these small doses collectively do a number on your health.

The worst-case scenario is that you catch cancer. How can you avoid these risks? Gear up in the best radioactive protective gear available. This is where Amray can help; we have been making amazing protective gear for three decades. But what materials do we opt for?

Lead Is One Of The Best Radiation Shielding Materials

One of Superman’s weaknesses is lead; he can’t use his x-ray vision to see past it. The x-rays simply can’t go through the lead.

We bet you can see where we are going with this. You see, the reason why you are exposed to so much radiation is that you conduct multiple X-rays and these rays interact with your cells and potentially radiate them.

You can take all the distance you want but that alone isn’t going to do much good. X-rays can travel hundreds of thousands of kilometers in the air so simply keeping at arm’s length isn’t enough.

Many opt to reduce working hours. That isn’t going to magically solve everything either because you still see some of this radiation on a daily basis. So what can you do to greatly reduce the risks?

Both these practices are smart; we think you should always stay as far as possible and work for reasonable hours no matter what gear you are using. But as we’ve repeated many times already, these practices alone won’t save you.

You need some reliable gear and no material is more reliable than lead. It is synonymous with radioactive protection and there’s a good reason for that. Actually, there are three. 

What Makes Lead So Suitable

First and foremost, it is one of the densest materials on the planet. In other words, it’s so thick that x-rays have a tough time penetrating through it. A block of it can mitigate all of them but you won’t need that much.

In fact, you are exposed to some radiation on a daily basis either way and that isn’t something to panic about. You don’t need to carry around kilograms of protection to use your phone.

That brings us to its second benefit. You can make lighter gear with it than other dense materials. This is because you can shape it in any way you want to. We can create thin sheets that block out the radiation but weigh very little.

Last but not the least, it is cheap. Lead barely costs anything compared to materials of similar density. For example, gold and platinum are a few of its compatriots; you know how expensive they are. 

Call Us Now!

Now that you know lead is supreme among radiation shielding materials, you’ll be happy to know we use them in most of our gear. Call us now to get your own protective equipment.