Al-Rajhi M A, Idriss Hajo, Alaamer Abdul-Aziz S, El-Khayatt A M
Physics Department, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11652, Saudi Arabia.
Deanship of Scientific Research, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11652, Saudi Arabia.
Appl Radiat Isot. 2021 Apr;170:109606. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109606. Epub 2021 Feb 2.
The current study explores the effectiveness of an iron slag nanopowder (ISNP), which prepared from local iron steel industry, against gamma/neutron shielding. The structural and physical characteristics were experimentally determined. The crystal structure, morphology and elemental composition of the ISNP were studied using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). On the other hand, a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study on the γ-ray shielding effectiveness of the ISNP was performed. In which, the experimental results have been validated by comparison with theoretical data which obtained by using the WinXcom program. This paper uses the well-known mathematical relationships to derive many shielding and dosimetry parameters such as effective atomic number and, effective electron density, for photon interaction and photon energy absorption as well as the γ-ray kerma coefficient from the mass attenuation coefficient. The exposure and energy absorption buildup factors have been also calculated. Furthermore, the shielding effectiveness against thermal and fast neutrons has been tested in terms of total macroscopic cross-sections. The results have revealed that the produced ISNP, with crystallite size of 24.5 nm, exhibits good shielding characteristics. Finally, based on this preliminary study, we can have concluded that the iron slag nanoparticles can be suitably used as an effective and safe (lead - free) component for radiation shielding.
本研究探讨了由当地钢铁工业制备的铁渣纳米粉末（ISNP）对γ射线/中子屏蔽的有效性。通过实验确定了其结构和物理特性。使用X射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、能量色散X射线分析（EDX）研究了ISNP的晶体结构、形态和元素组成。另一方面，对ISNP的γ射线屏蔽有效性进行了全面的实验和理论研究。其中，通过与使用WinXcom程序获得的理论数据进行比较，验证了实验结果。本文利用著名的数学关系推导了许多屏蔽和剂量学参数，如有效原子序数、有效电子密度，用于光子相互作用和光子能量吸收以及从质量衰减系数计算γ射线比释动能系数。还计算了照射量和能量吸收积累因子。此外，根据总宏观截面测试了对热中子和快中子的屏蔽有效性。结果表明，所制备的ISNP微晶尺寸为24.5nm，具有良好的屏蔽特性。最后，基于这项初步研究，我们可以得出结论，铁渣纳米颗粒可适当地用作辐射屏蔽的有效且安全（无铅）成分。
