A comparative study of the activation energy and shielding properties of some binary and ternary echo-friendly alloys reinforced by Bi substitutes Zn particles for radiation protection

Abstract

The thermal and mechanical stability besides environmentally friendly of some low-melting binary systems dopant with third element such as Bi started to gain much attention. This study provides the synthesized, effects of rapid solidification processing (RSP) and Bi doping on the microstructural, mechanical performance and gamma radiation shielding of various lead-free binary and ternary alloys have compositions Sn-(50-x)Zn-xBi (where x = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.%) using high cooling rate. Microstructure modifications, elastic and plastic behavior were investigated. As well as the gamma-ray shielding performance of all as-prepared melt-spun process alloys was examined experimentally using FH 40G dose rate measuring unit. Phy-X/PSD software was used to compute the ${\mu }_m$ values across a large energy range of 0.015 MeV–15 MeV. To clearly understand the gamma radiation shielding capability of the melt-spun process alloys, different shielding parameters includes linear attenuation coefficients, LAC, mass attenuation coefficient, MAC, mean free path, MFP, half value layer (HVL) and tenth value layer (TVL) were calculated and compared to other commonly shielding materials. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the presence of different phases such as β-Sn, Bi, Zn as well as two IMCs Sn_0.95Bi_0.05 and Sn_0.85Zn_0.15. The morphology features of the samples using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that Bi particles dopant the matrix led to refine the microstructures as well as forming a uniform and homogeneous distribution of IMCs. It is also, reported that the increase of Bi dopant led to enhancing the Bi segregation in the matrix in addition to decreasing the crystallite size which reinforces the mechanical strength and radiation shielding properties. The elastic modulus and Vickers microhardness increase with increasing Bi additions to about 35% and 27%, respectively. The results showed that correlation between activation energy and shielding properties of as-prepared alloys. The mass and linear attenuation coefficient for all prepared samples increases as Bi increases from 10 to 40 wt.%. On the other hand, low activation energies indicate easier formation and growth of IMCs. The results also show that the Sn-10Zn-40Bi alloy has the highest mechanical and shielding attenuation properties. It may be attributed to promoting the brittleness of Bi, refinement of crystallite size, extended the solid solubility and microstructure features accompanying Bi content using rapid cooling. As a result, Sn-10Zn-40Bi alloy may be recommended as a preferable alloy for radiation shielding performance to be used for medical, industrial and nuclear waste storage fields. In the current work, an attempt has been made not only to summarize the various investigations made so far on visualizing the feasibility of alloys as radiation shielding material; but also, to provide a comparative study for further consideration to be used in other fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Low melting points
• activation energy
• echo-friendly alloys
• rapid solidification processing
• shielding parameters
• radiation protection

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through a large group Research Project under grant Number RGP2/289/44

Notes on contributors

Rizk Mostafa Shalaby

Prof. Rizk Mostafa Shalaby was born in Al-Mansoura, Egypt. He received the M.Sc. degree in solid state physics from Mansoura university, Mansoura, Egypt, in 1995. He completed his Ph.D. in solid state Physics in 2001 at Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, he has over 35 years of professional experience in research and teaching. Now he is working as a Professor of Materials Physics at the Physics Department, Faculty of science, Mansoura University, Mansoura Egypt. His main research interest focuses on solid state physics, materials science, metallic materials and materials physics and he is the author/co-author of more than 100 research articles on high indexed international journals and conference proceedings. Also, his current research interests include modified perovskites as a multifunctional platform for promising applications, conjugated polymers graphene/ polymers nanocomposites for solar cells applications, Al-based alloys for sustainable energy applications (soler cell and green hydrogen), environmentally friendly alloys for electronic packaging and assemblies applications, as well as metallic alloys for shielding and dental applications, in addition to bearing, brazing, and antifriction alloys for medical, engineering, and electrical applications. Currently, he is one of the Members of the Permanent Science Committee of Physics. He was Ex-Vice Dean for community service and environmental development affairs, faculty of science, Mansoura University, Egypt. Also, he was the head of the Physics department, faculty of science, Mansoura University. He is a supervisor for many academic students, M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen.