Utilization of Steel Aggregate and Iron Sand as Heavyweight Concrete for Gamma Radiation Shielding

This study aims to produce a homogenous and workable conventional heavyweight concrete (HWC) with similar performance as pre-placed HWC in attenuating radiation by increasing the concrete density with no risk of segregation. HWC was mixed using steel aggregate and iron sand with a specific gravity of 7.78 and 4.14, respectively. A w/c ratio of 0.5 was applied to obtain proper workability and viscosity modifying agent (VMA) was used to prevent segregation. The radiation tests were carried out using¹³³Ba (356 keV),¹³⁷Cs (662 keV), and⁶⁰Co (1170 keV & 1330 keV) gamma sources. The results obtained a concrete density of 5133.07 kg/m³ with no sign of segregation and a compressive strength of 18.61 MPa. Based on the radiation test, the conventional HWC was effective in reducing the shielding thickness by 50.41. Our findings provide a workable conventional HWC with high gamma attenuation to replace an enormous dimension of normal concrete.