Development of heavyweight concrete with 2n mixing theory for shielding application

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to develop the heavyweight concrete with the density of more than 5.0 gm/cm3 for using in the radiation shielding applications. The 2n mixing theory, with kneading and lapping mechanism, was applied to develop the heavyweight concrete using iron powder and balls for aggregates. The mixing proportion of the heavyweight concrete was designed to prevent the segregation of heavy aggregates and give the required workability for the compaction. The density of heavyweight concrete was 5.06 gm/cm3, about the double of ordinary concrete (2.35 gm/cm3). The shielding test was done for γ-ray and neutron using two different emission sources for each. 137Cs and 60Co were used for γ-ray; and, 241Am-Be and 252Cf for neutron. The analytical models were developed for the attenuation percentage of the γ-ray and neutron. Attenuation coefficients were calculated for the comparison study from both the experimental and analytical results. The attenuation coefficient ratio of the heavy weight concrete to the ordinary concrete was about 2.1 for the γ-ray and only about 1.28 for the neutron. The experimental results satisfied with the analytical models. It is concluded that the density of concrete and passing distance are dominant for shielding the γ-ray. However, the passing distance is more dominant than the density of concrete in the case of neutron. The heavy concrete with its density of more than 5.0 gm/cm3 was successfully implemented in the shielding application.