The Potentials of Egyptian and Indian Granites for Protection of Ionizing Radiation
Mohamed Elsafi,
M. F. Alrashedi,
M. I. Sayyed,
Ibrahim F. Al-Hamarneh,
M. A. El-Nahal,
Mostafa El-Khatib,
Mayeen Uddin Khandaker,
Hamid Osman,
Ahmad El Askary
Affiliations
Mohamed Elsafi
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21511, Egypt
M. F. Alrashedi
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21511, Egypt
M. I. Sayyed
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Isra University, Amman 11622, Jordan
Ibrahim F. Al-Hamarneh
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Al-Balqa Applied University, Al-Salt 19117, Jordan
M. A. El-Nahal
Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt
Mostafa El-Khatib
Basic Sciences Department, Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria, Alexandria 21526, Egypt
Mayeen Uddin Khandaker
Centre for Applied Physics and Radiation Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Hamid Osman
Department of Radiology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Ahmad El Askary
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
This paper aims to study the radiation shielding characteristics and buildup factor of some types of granite in Egypt. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for three types of granite (gandola, white halayeb, and red aswani) was experimentally determined, and the experimental results were validated by XCOM software. The relative deviation between the two methods does not exceed 3% in all discussed granite samples, which means that MAC calculated through the experimental and XCOM are in suitable agreement. The effective atomic number (Zeff) varies from 13.64 to 10.69, 13.68 to 10.59, and 13.45 and 10.66 for gandola, white halayeb, and red aswani, respectively. As well as the equivalent atomic number (Zeq) was calculated in a wide range of energy to deduce the exposure (EBF) and energy absorption (EABF) buildup factors for the studied granite materials. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP) were calculated at each investigated energy and showed that the most effective shielding ability at high energy was red aswani, while at low energy, the shielding ability was nearly constant for studied granites. The present study forms the first endeavor to obtain the radiation shielding properties of the studied materials to be used in practical applications.
