Use of waste marble powder in brick industry

The usability of waste marble dust as an additive material in industrial brick were investigated. Marble wastes were collected from marble deposits which are located at Southwest of Turkey and industrial brick mortar was obtained from a brick company in Istanbul. Waste marble dust and brick mortar were prepared for various processes of industrial brick investigation. Waste material in different proportions was mixed with industrial brick mortar starting amount of 0 wt.% up to 80 wt.%. in 41 x 8 x 8 mm rectangular prisms for testing of physico-mechanical properties of the samples having different marble dust composition. These prepared prisms were pressed and sintered at three different temperatures 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C. Flexural strengths of the test samples were given at three different temperature values of 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C. Archimedes water displacement test was conducted with different water absorption percentage values at 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C temperatures. XRD analyses have been carried out for the additives which contain mainly calcite and small amount of dolomite minerals. It was found that the amount of marble dust additive had positive effect on the physical, chemical and mechanical strength of the produced industrial brick. With increasing demands of the construction industry, bricks quality and cost become more important day by day in Turkey. In addition, the usage of marble wastes for the production of industrial bricks has significant important role on the recycling waste marble powder in the brick production along with a great contributions to economy and ecology of the country

Shielding Effect of Boron Carbide Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite against Gamma and Neutron Radiation

In this study, boralyn (boron carbide-aluminum metal matrix composite material - Al/B₄C) composite materials were investigated on shielding effect against gamma and neutron radiations. The samples were prepared as 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, and 20 wt% reinforcement content and for each content of material has composed in five different average particle sized (3 μm, 53 μm, 113 μm, 200 μm, and 500 μm). Linear and mass attenuation coefficients were calculated experimentally for each composite material against Cs-137 gamma source. Theoretical mass attenuation coefficients of material were calculated by using XCOM computer code. Then the theoretical results were compared with experimental results. Then, macroscopic cross-section values were calculated experimentally for each composite material against Pu-Be neutron source. As the conclusion of the study, it could be understood that in spite of decrease of the attenuation coefficient against gamma radiation, the adding materials give rise to increase the shielding ability of material against neutron radiation