The fundamental radiation shielding principle of tungsten alloy shielding containers rests on the composite interaction mechanisms between high-density, high-atomic-number metallic composites and ionizing radiation. The core lies in exploiting the abundant shell electrons and strong Coulomb field of tungsten atoms to rapidly deprive incident photons and neutrons of energy through photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, pair production, and inelastic plus elastic scattering within very short distances, converting it into local heat and secondary charged particles and thereby achieving exponential attenuation of ray intensity.
In tungsten alloy, tungsten particles form a continuous skeleton while the binder phase serves only connection and toughening functions, allowing the material to retain attenuation characteristics close to pure tungsten. Photons first undergo photoelectric absorption with inner-shell electrons, generating photoelectrons and characteristic X-rays that are immediately re-absorbed by neighboring atoms; at medium energies Compton scattering dominates, randomizing photon direction and energy for continued interaction; at high energies pair production converts photons into charged particle pairs that quickly lose kinetic energy in the high-electron-density medium. Neutrons first lose energy through inelastic collisions with tungsten nuclei, then undergo multiple elastic scatterings to reach thermal energies for capture, with any capture gamma promptly re-attenuated by the tungsten alloy itself.
This synergistic, stepwise local-energy-deposition principle enables tungsten alloy shielding containers to provide effective control over a broad energy spectrum within limited thickness and maintain stable shielding performance in complex mixed radiation fields, making them a widely adopted container material in nuclear medicine imaging, isotope production, industrial radiography, and scientific irradiation facilities.
