Neutron and charged particle attenuation properties of volcanic rocks

Abstract

This research article aims to study the neutron and charged particle attenuation properties of volcanic rocks collected from the western region of Saudi Arabia. The rock samples labeled as VR1, VR2, VR3, and VR4 were experimentally investigated by a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The neutron transmission factor (TF) was estimated by using the Monte Carlo technique for different thicknesses varying from 0 to 3 mm. Moreover, we studied the charged particles' interaction properties with the present volcanic rocks for projectile energy up to 2.5 MeV. The obtained results reveal that the neutron TF decreased from 95.2, 95.8, 94.9, and 95.3 % at 0.5 mm to 74.4, 77.4, 73.4, and 75.1 % at 3 mm for the rock samples of VR1, VR2, VR3, and VR4, respectively. We found that the maximum projectile range (ℜ) occurred at the low energy region (0.2 MeV) for charged particle interactions. In comparison, the minimum ℜ occurred at the high energy level (2.5 MeV). Additionally, the values of ℜ come in the order of ℜ electron > ℜ proton > ℜ alpha > ℜ carbon with the minimum values of 185.6, 221.8, 178.8, and 189.8 μm in the case of the electron, and with the values of 0.696, 0.8141, 0.669, and 0.716 μm in the case of carbon ion for VR1, VR2, VR3, and VR4, respectively. This result revealed the VR3 rock sample as a superior shielding material against neutron beams and charged particles among the studied volcanic rocks.