Title: Experimental determination of effective density of Al₂O₃-SiC-ZrO₂ ceramics porous phase using gamma-ray attenuation

Authors: Sayed H. Kenawy; Elsayed K. Elmaghraby

Addresses: Ceramics and Refractories Department, National Research Centre, Dikki, Giza 12622, Egypt ' Experimental Nuclear Physics Department, Nuclear Research Centre, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo 13759, Egypt

Abstract: In the present work, we describe the use of a multi-gamma lines source to determine the linear attenuation coefficient of ceramic material. High precision germanium detector is used to assess gamma-ray transmission. Geometry is adopted to enhance detection of ²¹⁰Pb gamma-ray line at 46.2 keV. Cascade summing was followed up. The effective density of micro-porous Al₂O₃-SiC-ZrO₂ ceramics was determined by comparing the measured linear attenuation coefficients at different energies with corresponding values computed by XCOM database. Five different composing ratios are investigated, for the three mixed materials. The results illustrate the applicability of high-resolution gamma-ray attenuation in the determination of effective density of ceramics and suitability of Al₂O₃-SiC composite as a candidate alternative for fuel cladding.

Keywords: effective density; porous ceramics; atomic displacement; high-resolution gamma-ray attenuation; scanning electron microscope.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2017.085774

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2017 Vol.11 No.2, pp.163 - 174

Received: 27 Jan 2017
Accepted: 14 Jun 2017
Published online: 12 Aug 2017 *

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