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Multi-element Analysis of Beryl Mineral from some Selected Sites in the Egyptian Eastern Desert for Color Enhancement by Neutron Irradiation |
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PP: 159-166 |
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doi:10.18576/jrna/100209
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Author(s) |
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S. Salama,
Samy. A. Dwidar,
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Abstract |
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| Beryl is a beryllium aluminum silicate, whose chemical symbol is (Be3Al2Si6O18). It is considered the primary raw material for beryllium and is one of the stones that have been processed to become one of the best gemstones in the market. In this research, the raw beryl stones are first examined and selected so that they do not contain many trace elements by subjecting the samples to an analysis using Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) as well as RAMAN Spectroscopy, The samples are subjected to irradiation by neutrons from the second Egyptian research reactor (which operates at a power of 22 megawatts and with a neutron flux of1.2 x1014 n.cm-2. s-1.) of 6.8 x1011 n/(cm2.s)-apart from the core- for short time irradiation samples and irradiation by neutrons flux of 0.37x1014 n/(cm-2.s)-nearby the core-for long time irradiation samples. After that, the samples are transferred for cooling and neutron activation analysis (NAA) to investigate the isotopes resulting from the irradiation and calculate the concentrations of these isotopes. It is noted that the color change occurs after exposure to radiation as a valuable gemstone. Some spectral analyses, especially Raman spectroscopy showed that there is a relationship between the color changes and the changes in the crystal structure components of beryl ore due to the irradiation effect. Finally, theoretical calculations are made to predict the time required for the activity to reach the safe level for transportation. |
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