Investigation of radiation shielding parameters of AZ61 magnesium alloy after electric arc spray and micro arc oxidation processes

In this study, the radiation shielding parameters of AZ61 magnesium (Mg) alloy, which is used in automotive, aerospace, and biomedical fields due to its low density, high specific strength, and biocompatible properties, were determined to investigate its usability in nuclear protection applications. Firstly, Al coating was applied to AZ61 Mg alloy by electric arc spray process and then ceramic oxide layer was obtained by micro arc oxidation (MAO) method. Then, the radiation shielding properties of AZ61 alloy were investigated. The radiation shielding parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), mean free path (MFP), half-value layer (HVL) and effective atomic numbers (Zeff) were measured in gamma spectrometer with Ba-133 radioactive sources. The fast neutron removal cross-sections (ΣR), exposure buildup factors (EBF) were theoretically determined. The results revealed that the duplex coating (AZ61-Al-O) significantly enhanced the gamma shielding capability compared to the uncoated AZ61 alloy, achieving about 8.0 % higher MAC at 383.8 keV. Therefore, the AZ61-Al-O sample can be considered a promising lightweight material for radiation protection applications.