A new heavy-mineral doped clay brick for gamma-ray protection purposes. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mahmoud, Karem A.; Tashlykov, Oleg L.; Mhareb, M.H.A.; Almuqrin, Aljawhara H.; Alajerami, Y.S.M.; Sayyed, M.I.
• Is Part Of: Applied radiation and isotopes. Volume 173(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: Clay bricks -- Fabrication -- Radiation shielding -- Monte Carlo simulation; Radiology -- Periodicals; Radiation -- Industrial applications -- Periodicals; Nuclear chemistry -- Periodicals; Internet resource; Periodical; 660.298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109720
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0969-8043

Abstract

Abstract: The present work novelty pointed to fabricate new clay bricks doped with heavy minerals to be used in the building materials as a candidate for radiation shielding. The bricks were manufactured as (y)Iron mineral + (1-y)clay, where y = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 fractional weight. The prepared bricks' chemical composition and density were introduced to the MCNP-5 code to assess the prepared bricks' protection capacity. The simulated linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) was confirmed by comparing the simulated results with those calculated by the Phy-X/PSD program. We found that the simulated and calculated LAC were close together. The diff (%) between the MCNP-5 and Phy-X/PSD is in the range ±2% for all the fabricated bricks. The maximum LAC values occurred at 0.015 MeV, varied between 21.540 and 39.553 cm −1 for bricks N0 and N30. The lowest LAC achieved at 15 MeV varied between 0.068 and 0.090 cm −1 . Bricks without heavy mineral addition have the lowest LAC values at all energies, ranging from 21.540 cm −1 to 0.068 cm −1, while bricks with 30 wt% heavy minerals have the highest LAC. The half-value layer (HVL) values decreased gradually with increasing the mineral ratio in the fabricated bricks. The thinner brick HVL achieved for the sample N 30 with 30 wt % heavy mineral, growing from 0.017 to 7.675 cm. The effective atomic number (Zeff ) was reported, and we found that the minimum Zeff values equal to 14.006, 14.865, 15.705, and 16.394 for bricks N 0, N 10, N 20, N 30, respectively. Highlights: Four bricks samples were prepared as a mixture of clay and natural mineral. The density of the fabricated bricks increased with the mineral ratio. The Monte Carlo simulation code (MCNP-5) used to evaluate the shielding parameters of the fabricated bricks. The linear attenuation coefficient enhanced with the iron ratio.