Lead brick is a common structural component for constructing facilities that conduct radiation tests or perform radiation therapy, particularly in the medical service industry. In industrial concerns, they are used for nuclear applications.
Lead brick is used as an alternative to applying a lead shield, or using some other form of lead-based or lead-equivalent shielding such as barium plaster. They serve the dual purpose of providing the shielding and providing structural stability. Because they are lead, they are extremely structurally stable. In addition, because of the many available sizes, they can be seamlessly substituted for those parts of a brick building that require it, without dealing with integration issues.
Lead brick is set in the same way as standard bricks, although the mortar will be formulated to block radiation as well. This is required because, even though the bricks are fabricated to be even more homogeneous than standard bricks, requiring the smallest of spaces between individual bricks, the nature of X-rays (which have a very small wavelength) allows them to pass through a very small slit, easily one that is 1/8”. For this reason, an alternate structure for the bricks uses vees and vee slots, allowing them to be interlocked in both the height and width directions. Without a direct line of sight slit between these interlocking bricks, the X-rays are blocked as effectively as if the entire brick wall were a solid structure. This allows the bricks to be assembled without mortar.
A company who desires a clean supplier should investigate their proposed brick supplier to vet the creation process. The best, most environmentally friendly facilities do not do lead refining on-site. In addition, they make sure to create their bricks with the purest lead available.
Suppliers for lead bricks will be very experienced with the best techniques for installation of their product. One standard installation strategy is to sandwich the bricks. This is done between two rows of studs, and can be strengthened by the addition of extra steel tubing for support if required. With the sandwich method, a space is provided for running electrical conduit, cabling, and gas supply lines, without having to deal with creating openings in the lead wall. This is a benefit for construction, but even more so for safety; as a wall constructed with lead bricks must remain opening free in order to maintain its barrier integrity.