Effect of mix parameters and hydrogen loading on neutron radiation shielding characteristics of latex modified concrete mixes

• An attempt has been made to evaluate the neutron radiation shielding characteristics of Latex Modified Concrete (LMC) mixes.
• Present study is aimed at evaluating the effect of varying mix parameters and hence the resulting total hydrogen content on shielding performance of LMC mixes.
• For the feasible range of P/C ratios (up to 0.20), noticeable enhancements in the neutron radiation shielding performances are recorded with the LMC mixes tested herein.

With the tremendous surge in the usage of radioactive materials in industry, education and research, medicine and other fields, it becomes a concern to protect the working personnel and common people around, from hazardous radiation leakages that may seriously affect their health. Among the different types of radiation, gamma and neutron radiations require adequate shielding. There have been several attempts to develop newer concretes and evaluate their neutron radiation shielding characteristics. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the effect of varying the mix parameters and hence the resulting total hydrogen content on the neutron radiation shielding characteristics of Latex Modified Concrete (LMC) mixes. The experiments are planned in such a way that the hydrogen content of the mixes is varied by controlling the mix parameters i.e., cement content, water/cement ratio and polymer/cement ratio of LMC mixes. The results are statistically analyzed. It is found that definite improvements could be achieved in neutron radiation shielding characteristics of LMC mixes as compared to ordinary concrete, with the increase in hydrogen concentration effected by changes in mix parameters.