Mars Metal’s plywood is laminated with sheet lead that is designed to cover necessary surfaces or walls in a room requiring radiation shielding. It is affixed to surfaces or walls ensuring a continuous layer of sheet lead, under the plywood, to a specified height. It is used in new construction or shielding upgrade/renovations for P.E.T and other types of diagnostic imaging rooms and to fill the void between lead-lined drywall and interlocking lead bricks.
Mars Metal’s Lead-Lined Plywood is available in 5/8” to 3/4” in thickness with pure lead sheets of thickness 1/16” to 1/2″ factory laminated to it.
Lead-laminated to plywood is applied in 48” widths on equal plywood widths up to 96” lengths. 2” wide batten strips can be supplied to cover all joints where applicable. Lead-lined plywood is typically recommended for heavier lead shielding requirements, usually when the lead shielding exceeds 1/8” thick. Lead-lined plywood at these thicknesses becomes very heavy to handle in full sheet form (4’ x 8’). We recommend having us cut the lead-lined plywood into widths that are equal to your on-site stud dimensions (e.g. 12” or 16”). This will make the lead-lined plywood much more manageable for the installer.
Example:
1 sheet of 3/4 ” x 4’ x 8’ plywood with 1/4 ” lead lining to 7’ weighs approx 505 lbs.
1 sheet of 3/4 ” x 16” x 8’ plywood with 1/4 ” lead lining to 7’ weighs approx 168 lbs
Smaller panels will require more batten strips but the ease of handling these lighter panels will be offset in the extra cost and labour during the installation process. Similar to leaded drywall, the installer will need to take into account the loss of shielding in all penetrations, seams and cut outs in the leaded plywood. Shielding will need to be added to all receptacle switches, fasteners penetrations and seams created when applying the leaded plywood. In the majority of installation jobs the leaded plywood panels can be mounted directly to the metal studs with standard drywall screws. Leaded plywood panels may be used in the ceiling but may require additional support of fasteners to hold the panels to the ceiling.
Installation
It is important to ensure the installation is done in accordance to local state or provincial standards and code regulations as outlined for each jurisdication. All panels will be affixed to heavy gauge metal studs sufficient to support the leaded plywood. Screw or fasten lead-lined panels 8 inches on centre at panel edges and 12 inches on centre to intermediate framing members. Erect all panels in a vertical position where possible or horizontally where required by local codes.
Sample Leaded Plywood Weights
Plywood 5/8” thick with 1/16” thick lead = 5.703 pounds per square foot
Plywood 5/8” thick with 1/8” thick lead = 9.453 pounds per square foot
Plywood 5/8” thick with 3/16” thick lead = 13.203 pounds per square foot
Plywood 5/8” thick with 1/4” thick lead = 16.953 pounds per square foot
Plywood 5/8” thick with 1/2” thick lead = 31.953 pounds per square foot
Plywood 3/4” thick with 1/4” thick lead = 505 pounds per square foot
Lead Lined Plywood Information Sheet
