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Tuning of Tetrahedral-to-Octahedral Layers Ion Content Ratio in Clay Minerals to Enhance the Radiation-Shielding Properties: A Case Study of Muscovite Clay Mineral

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Abstract

Radiation attenuation and absorption play a crucial role in various applications, such as nuclear power generation, medical imaging, and space exploration. Clay minerals, with their unique layered structure, offer potential as radiation shielding materials due to their exceptional properties and tunability. The systematic tuning of the tetrahedral-to-octahedral-layers ion content (T:O ratio) in muscovite, a variant of mica, by substitution of Al by Fe and investigation of its impact on radiation shielding is the primary goal of this study. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) were calculated for a range of photon energies for different clay minerals, revealing that the MAC values depend on the incident photon energy, crystalline form and chemical composition. The sequential order for the MAC values at E = 50 keV as follows: (Clay, MAC (cm2.g−1)): (mica, 0.357), (talc, 0.307), (kaolinite, 0.297), (montmorillonite, 0.286). The LAC values also demonstrated variations with the same order in relation to incoming radiation, where mica (with unit-cell volume 943.6 A˚3, crystal density 3.02 g.cm−3, atomic packing fraction 0.226) exhibited the highest values. Also, the results indicate that muscovite exhibits improving shielding properties as the ion content T:O ratio is increased from 20:0 to 20:10, corresponding to an increase in Fe3+ ions at the expense of Al3+ ions in the octahedral voids. Its MAC values at 0.015 MeV were increased from 7.146 to 10.403 cm2.g−1 as the T:O substitution ratio increased from 20:0 to 20:10 in the layered clay. The findings highlight the importance of optimizing the T:O substitution ratio in clay minerals for radiation-shielding applications.

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Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank The Hashemite University for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, P. O. Box 330127, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan

    F. Afaneh, S. Al-Omari & Z. Y. Khattari

  2. Basic Engineering Science Department, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Koom, 32511, Egypt

    R. A. Elsad

  3. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Koom, 32511, Egypt

    Y. S. Rammah

Authors
  1. F. Afaneh
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  2. S. Al-Omari
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  3. R. A. Elsad
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  4. Y. S. Rammah
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  5. Z. Y. Khattari
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Contributions

Feras Afaneh: Review & editing the first draft of the manuscript.

Saleh Al-Omari: Assisted in data collection & analysis and rearranging the manuscript first draft.

Ragab A. Elsad: Assisted in data analysis and drawing the figures.

Yasser Rammah: Review & editing, and resources.

Ziad Y. Khattari: Conceptualization, review & editing, and Finalized the last version of the manuscript.

* All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Z. Y. Khattari.

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Afaneh, F., Al-Omari, S., Elsad, R.A. et al. Tuning of Tetrahedral-to-Octahedral Layers Ion Content Ratio in Clay Minerals to Enhance the Radiation-Shielding Properties: A Case Study of Muscovite Clay Mineral. Silicon (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-024-03017-5

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