Evaluation of boron waste and barite against radiation

Abstract

Turkey has the world’s largest boron reserves. Colemanite is one of these minerals. A large amount of waste is produced during the production of boric acid from colemanite. In this study, usability of boron wastes (BW, borogypsum) and barite as a radiation shielding materials was investigated. Six compositions were shaped with various ratios of borogypsum and barite. After drying, shaped samples were sintered at 1050 °C. Sintered samples were evaluated for density, water absorption, porosity and gamma ray radiation shielding. The best attenuation coefficients were 0.225678, 0.148848 and 0.142652 cm−1 at 662, 1173 and 1332 keV photon energies, respectively.