El-Khatib Ahmed M, Abbas Mahmoud I, Elzaher Mohamed Abd, Anas M, El Moniem Mohamed S Abd, Montasar Mahmoud, Ellithy Ebeid, Alabsy Mahmoud T
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21511, Egypt.
Department of Basic and Applied Science, Faculty of Engineering, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Al Alamein P.O. 1129, Egypt.
Materials (Basel). 2023 Mar 23;16(7):2541. doi: 10.3390/ma16072541.
Improving mortar shielding properties to preserve environmental and human safety in radiation facilities is essential. Conventional cement mortars, composed of cement, water, and lime aggregate, are crucial for radiation shielding. Using recycled aggregates to produce new mortar and concrete compositions has attracted the attention of several researchers. In the current study, waste marble and iron slag as aggregates are used to create novel cement mortar compositions to study the aggregate's impact on the radiation attenuation capability of the mortar. Three mortar groups, including a control mortar (CM-Ctrl), were prepared based on cement and waste marble. The other two groups (CM-MIS, CM-NIS), contained 25% iron slag at different particle sizes as a replacement for a waste marble. The study aims to compare iron slag in their micro and nano sizes to discuss the effect of particle size on the mortar radiation capability. For this purpose, the NaI scintillation detector and radioactive point sources (Am, Ba, Cs, Co, and Eu) were utilized to measure several shielding parameters, such as the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP), for the produced mortars at different photon energies. Furthermore, the transmission electron microscope (TEM) is used to measure the particle size of the aggregates. In addition, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is utilized to acquire the cross-section morphologies of the prepared mortars. According to our findings, mortars prepared with nano-iron slag and waste marble offered superior shielding capabilities than mortars containing natural sand or fine crushed stone. The nano iron slag mortar can be utilized in place of typical sand mortar for applications as rendering or plastering materials for building medical diagnostic and CT scanner rooms, due to its improved shielding abilities.
提高砂浆屏蔽性能以在辐射设施中保护环境和人类安全至关重要。由水泥、水和石灰骨料组成的传统水泥砂浆对于辐射屏蔽至关重要。使用再生骨料生产新型砂浆和混凝土组合物已引起了几位研究人员的关注。在当前的研究中，使用废大理石和铁渣作为骨料来制备新型水泥砂浆组合物，以研究骨料对砂浆辐射衰减能力的影响。基于水泥和废大理石制备了三组砂浆，包括一组对照砂浆（CM-Ctrl）。另外两组（CM-MIS、CM-NIS）含有25%不同粒径的铁渣，作为废大理石的替代品。该研究旨在比较微米和纳米尺寸的铁渣，以讨论粒径对砂浆辐射能力的影响。为此，利用碘化钠闪烁探测器和放射性点源（镅、钡、铯、钴和铕）来测量几种屏蔽参数，如所制备砂浆在不同光子能量下的线性衰减系数（LAC）、质量衰减系数（MAC）、半价层（HVL）、十分之一价层（TVL）和平均自由程（MFP）。此外，使用透射电子显微镜（TEM）来测量骨料的粒径。此外，利用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）来获取所制备砂浆的横截面形态。根据我们的研究结果，用纳米铁渣和废大理石制备的砂浆比含有天然砂或细碎石的砂浆具有更好的屏蔽能力。由于其屏蔽能力的提高，纳米铁渣砂浆可用于替代典型的砂浆，用作建筑医疗诊断和CT扫描室的抹灰或粉刷材料。
