Implementation of waste silicate glass into composition of ordinary cement for radiation shielding applications

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the radiation shielding properties of cement samples with waste glass incortated into its composition. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of the samples were experimentally determined to evaluate their radiation shielding ability. The experimental coefficient was evaluated using NaI detector for gamma energies between 59.53 keV and 1408.01 keV using different radioactive point sources Am-241, Eu-152, Co-60, and Cs-137, and the gamma transmission parameters half-value layer, mean free path, and transmission factor were calculated. The theoretical coefficient of the composites was determined using Geant4 and XCOM software. The results were also compared against Geant4 and XCOM simulations by calculating the relative deviation between the values to determine the accuracy of the results. In addition the mechanical properties (including Compressive and porosity) as well as the thermogravimetric analysis were tested for the present samples. Overall, it was concluded that the cement sample with 50% waste glass has the greatest shielding potential for radiation shielding applications and is a useful way to reuse waste glass.

Keywords

• Waste glass/cement
• Geant4 simulation
• MAC
• Compressive
• Porosity
• Thermogravimetric analysis