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Boron minerals, considered future essential materials, can be used as raw materials in the production of boron carbide. In this study, boron carbide, the hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride, is characterized and the neutron shielding behavior is investigated. The characterization and structural evaluation of the boron carbide sample was performed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman Spectroscopy. In addition, a neutron Howitzer was used to measure the neutron permeability of boron carbide samples of various thicknesses. The sample composed of 12.5 g of boron carbide powder and 3 g of Wax® had the lowest neutron permeability rate (62.1%). Pellet 3 had the smallest total macroscopic cross section of boron carbide particles, 0.722 ± 0.0071 cm−1.

In Turkey, pyrite, copper melting gases and sulfur are used as a raw material in sulfuric acid production. Pyrite ashes are obtained as a result of the sulfuric acid production process during the roasting of pyrite ores. These wastes are generally landfilled or dumped into the sea. Pyrite ash wastes can be utilized as a raw material in the production of iron ore, and thus environmental pollution can be avoided; however, these wastes need to achieve certain physical and chemical properties before they are used. Pyrite ashes are agglomerated into pellets to allow them acquire the required properties for use as iron ore in a blast furnace. The essential parameters affecting the pelletization of pyrite ashes are studied using bentonite as a binder. The metallurgical properties of pyrite ash, bentonite, a mixture of pyrite ash and bentonite, and sintered pellets are studied using X-ray analyses. Wet-drop, wet-crush, dry-crush and sintered-crush tests are carried out to investigate the strength of the pyrite ash wastes pellets prepared from feeds with different sieve size and bentonite content. The results of this analysis demonstrate that pyrite ashes can be agglomerated into pellets and used as feed for the blast furnace in the iron production industry.