Highly dense red mud shields for X-ray and γ-ray attenuation

A process for preparation of a red mud based material for attenuation of x-rays and gamma rays, the process comprising:

• (a) taking 50 wt % to 70 wt % of red mud;
• (b) separately taking 30 to 50 wt % of a component chosen from:
• (i) Bi2O3;
• or
• (ii) Ba(OH)2;
• or
• (iii) a 50:50 wt % mixture of Bi2O3 and Ba(OH)2;
• (c) grinding the red mud in a ball mill for 4 hours;
• (d) adding to the ball mill of (c) the component of (b) and grinding for one hour to obtain a mixture;
• (e) taking the mixture obtained in (d) in a graphite die and sintering at a temperature from 1000° C. to 1150° C. in a hot press at a heating rate of 7° C./min to obtain a partially melted mixture;
• and
• (f) compacting the partially melted mixture obtained in (e) by applying pressure of from 23 MPa to 40 MPa for 30 seconds to 60 seconds and cooling at a rate of 10° C./minute to 27° C. to obtain the red mud based material.

A process for preparation of a red mud based material, the process comprising:

• (a) milling a red mud to form a milled red mud;
• (b) combining the milled red mud with Bi2O3, Ba(OH)2, or a mixture thereof to form a red mud mixture, wherein the red mud mixture comprises from 50 to 70 wt. % of the milled red mud and from 30 to 50 wt. % of a combined weight of components Bi2O3 and Ba(OH)2;
• (c) sintering the red mud mixture obtained in (b) at a temperature from 1000° C. to 1150° C. to obtain a partially melted mixture;
• (d) compacting the partially melted mixture obtained in (c) by applying pressure of from 23 MPa to 40 MPa to obtain the red mud based material;
• and
• (e) cooling the red mud based material.