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The Influence of Unit Cell Parameters, Intertetrahedral Bridging Angle and Chemical Composition on the Crystal γ-ray Attenuation of α-quartz Homeotypes

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A Correction to this article was published on 18 September 2023

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Abstract

The attenuation of γ-rays in α-quartz homeotypes is influenced by various factors, including unit cell parameters, intertetrahedral bridging angle, and chemical composition. This study aims to investigate the correlation between these crystal parameters and the attenuation properties of γ-rays in α-quartz homeotypes. Thirteen different crystalline forms of α-quartz homeotypes with varying densities were chosen and analyzed for their shielding properties. Their mass attenuation coefficients (MAC) and linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) were calculated for a range of photons energies using XCOM online software. The results revealed distinct dependencies of MAC and LAC values on incident photon energies and α-quartz homeotypes. They follows the following sequential order in the low and high energy domains:MACGaAsO4 < MACGaO4 > MACBAsO4 > MACAlAsO4 > MACGaPO4 > MACAl0.33Ga0.67PO4 > MACFePO4 > MACPON > MACSi0.56P0.44O1.56N0.44 > MACAlPO4 > MACSiO2 > MACBPO4 > MACBeF2. The GaAsO4 homeotype exhibited the highest MAC values at low incoming photon energies, while the BeF2 compound displayed the least MAC values. The LAC values also demonstrated variations among the homeotypes, with GeO2 (with a = 4.9845 Å, c = 5.6477 Å, ρ = 4.2700 g/cm3, APF = 0.408) exhibiting the highest values. The influence of the intertetrahedral bridging angle and tilt angle on LAC values was investigated, indicating that an increase in the intertetrahedral bridging angle (or a decrease in the tilt angle) led to a decrease in LAC. This study provides valuable insights into the structural-radiation absorption properties of α-quartz homeotypes and their potential applications in radiation shielding, paving the way for the development of novel materials with optimized radiation shielding efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

Ziad Khattari and Saleh Al-Omari would like to thanks the support from Hashemite University.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    S. Al-Omari & Z. Y. Khattari

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Northern Border University, 1321, Arar, Saudi Arabia

    Shaaban M. Shaaban

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

    Y. S. Rammah

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

    R. A. Elsad

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Contributions

Ziad Khattari: Conceptualization, review & editing, writing manuscript first draft.

Shaaban Shaaban: Assisted in data analysis and drawing the figures.

Saleh Al-Omari: Assisted in data collection & analysis and rearranging the manuscript first draft and wrote the reply to reviewers and edited the final version.

Ragab Elsad: Review & editing, resources;

Yasser Rammah: supervision 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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Al-Omari, S., Shaaban, S.M., Rammah, Y.S. et al. The Influence of Unit Cell Parameters, Intertetrahedral Bridging Angle and Chemical Composition on the Crystal γ-ray Attenuation of α-quartz Homeotypes. Silicon 15, 7865–7873 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02630-0

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