A simulation study on enhancing sterilization efficiency in medical plastics through gamma radiation optimization

Gamma radiation is progressively emerging as an effective method to enhance the sterilization efficiency of medical plastics including Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The parameters of the radiation facility will affect the efficiency of radiation sterilization. To investigate these effects, we simulate the gamma radiation sterilization performance of PVC material sample using Monte Carlo Method. The simulation results indicated that compared with the sterilization time of 20–90 min from high-temperature steam sterilization of medical waste, by optimizing the parameters of the model radiation facility, the radiation sterilization time can be reduced to 6.61 min. The optimized model facility parameters are as follows: the gamma photon energy is 1.25 MeV, the model space is 300 × 300 × 300 cm(3), the reflective layer material is concrete and its thickness is 8 cm, the PVC sample layer area is 100 × 100 cm(2), the distance between the radiation source and the PVC sample layer is 150 cm, the energy deposition in the bottom layer of the PVC sample layer is 1.31315 × 10(–6) MeV/g. This study offers a potentially feasible way for PVC sterilization, while also providing a crucial reference for the further promotion and application of radiation sterilization technology.