The constituents, properties and application of heavyweight concrete: A review

Abstract

Abstract Promoting concrete quality is a logical inevitable choice for humanity in global revolutionary development. This study highlights one of the most important types of concrete, namely, the high density concrete, which is used widely in nuclear power plants and many other modern scientific and industrial applications. It can efficiently absorb and attenuate the dangerous types of radiation. It is low cost. These features make this type of concrete important in many relevant fields and applications. It is used as partition walls for rooms of examination in hospitals, laboratories and others. The attenuation degree of the biologically dangerous types of radiation (such as gamma rays, alpha rays, beta rays and X-ray) during the propagation of these rays through the mass of the shielding materials is in proportion with the atomic mass of the shielding material. Some of these rays can be stopped easily by a piece of paper (like α) or a thin layer of aluminium (such as β-ray). However, some of them (such as gamma rays) has ultrapenetration ability and can penetrate through the living bodies and cause destructive ionisation to biological cells. Thus, the concrete material that can properly shield from such rays is important and is the primary focus of discussion of this review. An overview of the works conducted to produce high density concrete for various engineering and radiation attenuation applications is provided. The important aspects are described in detail, such as the high-density concrete properties, materials used, physical and chemical material’s properties, mechanical properties and durability and the effect of the interfacial transition zone’s density on the properties of heavy weight concrete. The major advantages and contributions of this study are not restricted to the comprehensive review of the past works that led to the development this important type of concrete. The knowledge gap in this field of work is highlighted. An extensive review of literature reveals the difficulties related to the scarcity of work on the drastic reduction of the water/cement ratio to achieve high density concrete with reasonable workability using modern chemical admixtures, the approach of promoting high-density concrete through hybridisations of fibres and the reduction of their permeability by using the nanomaterials as mineral admixtures.