Eco-enhanced silicone rubber composites reinforced with micro and nano iron slag and TiO₂ for thermal stability and radiation protection

Silicone rubber (SR) is doped with micro- and nano-sized particles of waste iron slag-titanium dioxide mixture with different weight percentages. Linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) for studied samples was measured using a NaI (Tl) scintillation detector with energy from 0.0595 to 1.332 MeV. The increase of TiO₂ concentration against Fe slag increases the values of LAC; also, the nano samples showed better performance than the micro one. The experimental results obtained were compared theoretically with XCOM software. The comparison examined the validity of experimental results where the relative deviation ranged between 0.5% and 3% for micro size. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the sizes of iron slag and TiO₂ nanoparticles were 30 ± 5 nm and 43 ± 5 nm, respectively. The structural morphology of prepared samples was employed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and indicated the homogeneity of the composite, on the other hand, the distribution of nanoparticles. Thermogravimetric (TGA) tests make it evident that greater thermal stability results from increased filler concentrations, particularly nano-sized fillers. Mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) and other radiation parameters such as mean free path (MFP), half value layer (HVL), and tenth value layer (TVL) were also measured. Moreover, equivalent atomic number (Zeq) and buildup factors (EBF and EABF) were calculated.