Product focus: Lead bricks
While lead-lined boards are one of Midland Lead’s core products, some radiation therapy installations – such as gamma knife rooms, HDR rooms or multi-modality rooms – will require a greater level of radiation protection. In these instances, where the protection needs to be greater than 10mm thick, lead brick is the most appropriate material to build a shielding system.
For ease of construction, lead bricks are kept to a manageable weight (typically 5kg per brick), but in some cases can weigh up to 26kg. Midland Lead offer a range of standard lead bricks, while bespoke bricks can be made on request. Each allow for simple, safe fabrication while on site. These include:
Rectangular and square lead bricks: For some healthcare applications, regular-shaped lead bricks can be used for quick and straightforward fabrications. They are laid in much the same way you would a house wall and can be used for temporary or permanent shielding situations. These bricks, which can be up to 50mm thick, have smooth and flat surfaces with a machine finish, allowing for a perfectly flush fit.
Lead chevron bricks (also known as chevron blocks or interlocking bricks): With v-shaped edges, these versatile chevron bricks can be used to erect sturdy shielding of any size, while eliminating the possibility of leakages when constructing corners, edges or curves. Each individual chevron is designed to lock into its adjacent lead chevron and can be used to construct a shield wall of any shape. Their design also means they can be built using more than one layer in order to provide shielding over 50mm thick.
Lead chevron rails: Like chevron bricks, these extruded chevron rails interlock tightly together, or with other lead bricks. Lead rails can be fixed to many existing brick or block walls, or used to create a free-standing shield structure from 15mm to 50mm thick.
All the lead bricks that Midland Lead use meet BS 4513 standards for use in lead shielding and BS 3909 standards for ingot lead for radiation shielding.