Radiation Shielding Performances and Spectroscopic Features of Replacement Materials Based on Reusing of Agricultural and Industrial Wastes

Environmental pollution increases due to the large amounts of waste production and raw material consumption depending on the increasing population. Agricultural and industrial wastes which are some of the sources of the pollution need to be reuse to reduce the negative impact on the environment and also con-tribute positive effect to the economy. In this context, industrial wastes such as clay types (red and green) and agricultural wastes such as egg shell, walnut shell and banana shell were used to prepare materials which can be used as replacement materials for construction industry. Radiation attenuation parameters (mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic number, linear attenuation coefficients, mean free path, half-value layer, exposure and energy absorption build up factors, fast neutron removal cross-section) were acquired by Phy-X/PSD code. Spectroscopic techniques (XRD, EPR, SEM-EDS) were performed for the structural analysis. The existence of calcite main phase peaks as well as SiO2 and cellulose phases were observed by XRD. Mn+2 sextet lines with five weak doublets attributed to the forbidden transition lines of Mn+2 and a singlet with a g value of ≈2.00 were recorded by EPR. All samples examined with good protection performances can be used as substitute materials instead of cement or aggregate for the aim of reusing the wastes and supporting the environmental and economic benefits.