Iron-rich industrial waste enhanced low-carbon radiation shielding functional composites

Abstract

Recycling of industrial wastes into value-added functional materials is a sustainable route for industrial waste management. This study proposed a revolutionary design of low-carbon radiation shielding functional composites by incorporating iron-rich industrial waste as precursor and heavy aggregates. Experimental results showed that the iron-rich industrial waste-enhanced radiation shielding functional composites (IWRSC) reached a high compressive strength of 43.2 MPa after 3-day heat curing. Characterization analyses indicated that the alkali-active components dissolved from industrial waste aggregates reacted with the alkali-activator to generate abundant geopolymer gels, resulted in the improvement in the interfacial transition zone. Besides, the gamma ray shielding capability of IWRSC was 21.2% better than that of normal composite, due to the high density of industrial waste aggregates and the dense microstructure of IWRSC. The carbon emission and energy consumption of composites were reduced by 64.4% and 69.6% by replacing natural heavy aggregates with industrial waste heavy aggregates. The unit cost of IWRSC was only 95.9 $/m3, which was 95.0% lower than that of barite-incorporated counterpart. Thus, this novel solution can effectively recycle industrial wastes into functional composites in a sustainable way, contributing to zero-waste city construction and the realization of a circular economy.