Tailoring bismuth borate glasses by incorporating PbO/GeO2 for protection against nuclear radiation

Abstract

Nuclear radiation shielding capabilities for a glass series 20Bi2O3 − xPbO − (80 − 2x)B2O3 − xGeO2 (where x = 5, 10, 20, and 30 mol%) have been investigated using the Phy-X/PSD software and Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code. The mass attenuation coefficients (μm) of selected samples have been estimated through XCOM dependent Phy-X/PSD program and MCNP-5 code in the photon-energy range 0.015–15 MeV. So obtained μm values are used to calculate other γ-ray shielding parameters such as half-value layer (HVL), mean-free-path (MFP), etc. The calculated μm values were found to be 71.20 cm2/g, 76.03 cm2/g, 84.24 cm2/g, and 90.94 cm2/g for four glasses S1 to S4, respectively. The effective atomic number (Zeff)values vary between 69.87 and 17.11 for S1 or 75.66 and 29.11 for S4 over 0.05–15 MeV of photon-energy. Sample S4, which has a larger PbO/GeO2 of 30 mol% in the bismuth-borate glass, possesses the lowest MFP and HVL, providing higher radiation protection efficiency compared to all other combinations. It shows outperformance while compared the calculated parameters (HVL and MFP) with the commercial shielding glasses, different alloys, polymers, standard shielding concretes, and ceramics. Geometric Progression (G-P) was applied for evaluating the energy absorption and exposure buildup factors at energies 0.015–15 MeV with penetration depths up to 40 mfp. The buildup factors showed dependence on the MFP and photon-energy as well. The studied samples' neutron shielding behavior was also evaluated by calculating the fast neutron removal cross-section (ΣR), i.e. found to be 0.139 cm−1 for S1, 0.133 cm−1 for S2, 0.128 cm−1 for S3, and 0.12 cm−1 for S4. The results reveal a great potential for using a glass composite sample S4 in radiation protection applications.

Characterization and Gamma-ray Shielding Performance of Calcinated and Ball-Milled Calcinated Bentonite Clay Nanoparticles

“…The high increase in the µ value is related to the proportionality of the interaction cross-section with E −3.5 in the mentioned energy interval. As the energy range in the Compton scattering region rises, the reduction of the µ is proportional to E −1 [24,25]. In this energy interval, the ball-milled µ values decrease in the range between 0.199 and 0.101 cm −1 (samples under a pressure rate of 50.98 kg/cm 2 ), 0.207 and 0.105 cm −1 (samples under a pressure rate of 101.97 kg/cm 2 ), and 0.226 and 0.114 cm −1 (samples under a pressure rate of 152.95 kg/cm 2 ).…”

The Influence of Titanium Dioxide on Silicate-Based Glasses: An Evaluation of the Mechanical and Radiation Shielding Properties

“…This is attributed to the higher bond dissociation energy of TiO2 (Gi = 101.2 kJ/cm 3 ) compared to The NPS card was chosen to cut off photon interactions after running at 10 8 historical. A detailed explanation of the geometry used is presented in our previous publications [21,22].…”

Gamma radiation shielding studies on highly dense barium bismuth borate glasses

“…Though, high‐Z elements added to the glass compositions to increase the shielding ability of the glasses, high densities (>6 g/cm 3 ) as well as large effective atomic numbers are not achieved as discussed above. High‐density glasses with considerable large atomic numbers reported were mainly comprised of PbO or other toxic heavy metal oxides 31,32 . Present work intends the preparation of dense yet transparent and lead‐free BBB glasses (>7 g/cm 3 ) by varying equal mole fraction of BaO and Bi 2 O 3 in a melt‐quenching process.…”

“…High-density glasses with considerable large atomic numbers reported were mainly comprised of PbO or other toxic heavy metal oxides. 31,32 Present work intends the preparation of dense yet transparent and lead-free BBB glasses (>7 g/cm 3 ) by varying equal mole fraction of BaO and Bi 2 O 3 in a meltquenching process. Effective atomic numbers of the BBB glass compositions studied are close to the heavy metals (Pb, W, and Hf) at low gamma energies.…”