Influence of gamma irradiation on the surface morphology, XRD and thermophysical properties of silicide hexoboride

Abstract

In this study, compounds of B6Si were irradiated using a [Formula: see text]Co gamma source that have an energy line of 1.25 MeV at the absorbed dose rates from 14.6 kGy to 194.4 kGy. Surface morphology images of the sample obtained by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) show that the crystal structure at a high absorbed doses [Formula: see text] starts to be destroyed. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that with increasing radiation absorption dose, the spectrum intensity of the sample was decreased 1.96 times compared with the initial value. Thermal properties were studied by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method in the temperature range of 30–1000[Formula: see text]C.