Development and characterization of eco-friendly geopolymer light weight bricks reinforced with nano waste materials for radiation protection applications
摘要
This study analyzes the effects of ferrosilicon (NLFS) and aluminum nano-wastes (NLAP) on the properties of lightweight geopolymer bricks that can be used in radiation shielding, particularly focusing on the potential applications of these materials in radiation protection. Density reductions of 27.6 and 24.8% were recorded using 1% nano-aluminum powder and 1% nano-ferrosilicon, respectively. The compressive strength recoded a non-significant decrease with the use of nano-waste materials, recording 163 kg/cm2 for ferrosilicon and 143 kg/cm2 for aluminum compared to 185 kg/cm2 for the control mix. SEM imaging confirmed the achievement of the set goals as it showed a porous structure with different pore size distributions. TGA and FTIR confirmed the chemical stability and formation of the geopolymeric bonds. The performance in radiation shielding evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations showed that the ferrosilicon waste bricks outperformed the aluminum waste bricks in terms of gamma-ray and neutron attenuation. The decrement in the linear attenuation coefficients for the ferrosilicon sample was 7.441 –0.028 cm− 1 in the range of 0.015-15 MeV compared to the aluminum sample 5.215 –0.022 cm− 1. Environmental analysis showed that both nanomaterials helped lower the carbon footprint, with ferrosilicon achieving an 8.53% CO2 emission reduction as opposed to 4.67% for aluminum. The assessment detailed the use of ferrosilicon and aluminum nano-waste in radiation-shielding lightweight geopolymer bricks.