Investigation of some radiation interaction parameters with aluminum–boron alloys

Abstract Aluminum–boron alloys with different boron contents have been fabricated using the stir-casting technique. A comparative research was done to determine the optimal radiation shielding parameters for the synthesized metal alloys. The radiation shielding parameters obtained include the linear attenuation coefficient ( μ ), total mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number ( Z eff ), electron density number ( N eff ), and absorbed dose rate (Dr). Theoretical findings were derived using web-based tools, the Phy-X/PSD and Py-MLBUF software, and were interpolated at specific energy levels. Reasonable agreement was observed, and the variance between experimental MAC and theoretical values with relative deviations (|RD|%) were ranged from 1.39 to 8.94 %. The highest values for the fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRC) and the macroscopic cross-section (MRCS), for S5 are 0.104 and 0.119, respectively. The range of H + , He +2 , Ti +4 , Bi +5 , and Dy +3 ions through the investigated alloys was computed with the SRIM Monte Carlo software in a wide energy range from 0.01 to 20 MeV. The ESTAR NIST program calculated the total stopping power (TSP) and range ( R ) values for electron interactions over the 10 −2 –10 3 MeV energy range. At the 20 MeV ions, energy through the investigated alloys target the ascending order of ions range is R Bi+5 < R Dy+3 < R Ti+4 < R He+2 < R H+. As the electron energy increased, S1, which has the highest density, gave the highest TSP. The CSDA range of the electrons was higher in low density sample.