Characterization of Local Egyptian Iron Ores for Use in Radiation Shielding Concrete

Abstract

Petrographic, physical, chemical, mechanical, and radioactive characteristics tests were performed on magnetite, limonite, and hematite found in abundance in Egypt to determine their suitability for producing radiation shielding concrete. The contents of uranium and thorium were determined using instrumental neutron activation analysis and gamma spectroscopy. The results obtained using the two methods have shown satisfactory correlation. The tests confirm that magnetite and limonite are suitable as concrete aggregate while hematite is not because of its friable nature and high contents of uranium, thorium, and cobalt.

Chemically formulated ceramic gamma ray irradiation shielding materials utilising red mud

“…It is reported in the literature that materials consisting of barium, [10][11][12]19,20 iron 8 and titanium [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] species show adequate shielding to X-ray and gamma rays irradiation. 39 The phases, namely bafertisite, sanbornite, celsian, essentially contain barium as one of the elements in the phases' chemical composition, and crystal structure and troilite contain iron and sulphur. Therefore, these phases are responsible for providing shielding characteristics to the developed materials.…”