Development of gadolinium calcium phosphate oxyfluoride glass for radiation shielding materials

Abstract

In this work, Gd 2 O 3 based glasses with compositions 10CaF 2 :xGd 2 O 3 :(90-x)P 2 O 5 (where x = 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol%) have been prepared by using melt-quenching method and investigated their physical, optical and gamma-ray shielding properties. The total mass attenuation coefficients increased with increasing Gd 2 O 3 concentration and decreased with increasing of photon energies. The effective atomic numbers and the effective electron densities are in the same trend with the total mass attenuation coefficients. The Half-value layers (HVL) at 662 keV were found to decrease with increasing Gd 2 O 3 concentration. All studied glasses have the HVL values lower than some standard shielding, ordinary concretes and commercial window, indicating the potential of the prepared glasses as a radiation shielding material.

Recent Progress in Gd-Containing Materials for Neutron Shielding Applications: A Review

“…From an overall standpoint, Gd is a good choice for the application of radiation shielding glasses. In recent studies [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], Gd-containing shielding glasses have mainly focused on γ-ray radiation shielding ability, which should be discussed in the following section. Considering that Gd-containing shielding materials tend to release highly hazardous secondary γ-rays while absorbing neutrons, this type of work should be helpful to improve the comprehensive shielding performance of Gd-containing neutron shielding glasses.…”

“…Here, low HVL represents good γ-ray shielding performance. Furthermore, the increased Gd 2 O 3 content led to a linear increase in the glass density due to its high molecular weight [ 41 , 42 ]. Glasses with a higher density are useful in radiation shielding against γ-rays [ 43 ].…”