Abstract:
This work emphasizes on the improvement of the gamma shielding ability of concrete using heavyweight materials of barite and ferrophosphorous. The physical properties and chemical composition of the selected aggregate materials were also studied. The specific gravity test results suggested barite and ferrophosphorous show excellent characteristics for improving shielding ability due to their high specific gravity of 4.21 and 5.35, respectively. The samples which applied barite and ferrophosphorous as aggregates, show high densities of 3,233 kg/m3 4,288 kg/m3 respectively. The sample applied ferrophosphorus material as an aggregate, had the highest linear attenuation coefficients with the highest density. The computed linear attenuation coefficients indicated higher values when compared with measured values due to low homogeneity of samples. © 2018 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.