Gamma ray shielding properties of heavy-weight concrete containing Nano-TiO2

Abstract

Currently, application of heavy-weight concrete (HC) as the protective shield against high energy gamma rays, is very popular. Protection against nuclear radiations is one of the most important issues in applied nuclear technology. In the current study, five different concrete mixtures were made using magnetite aggregates and 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8% of titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. In this research, mechanical properties of HC including compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and impact resistance were evaluated and attenuation coefficients were also determined for 662, 1173 and 1332 keV energy levels of gamma ray using Cs137 and Co60 sources. Some of the protecting parameters such as HVL (half value layer), TVL (tenth value layer) and linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) were evaluated. Results indicated that increasing the amount of TiO2 nanoparticles from 0% to 8% leads to increase in UPV and impact resistance and adding 6% of TiO2 nanoparticles is the most optimum amount of this additive. Whereas, the significant effect on radiation shielding properties occurred within specimen including 8% of TiO2 nanoparticles.