Fabrication, physical properties and γ-ray shielding factors of high dense B2O3–PbO–Na2O–CdO–ZnO glasses: impact of B2O3/PbO substitution

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 35; no. 7; p. 534
• Main Authors: Alsaif, Norah A. M., Al-Ghamdi, Hanan, Elsad, R. A., Abdelghany, A. M., Shaaban, Shaaban M., Rammah, Y. S., Nabil, Islam M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorptivity; Boron oxides; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Gamma rays; Glass; Lead oxides; Materials Science; Mathematical analysis; Molar volume; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxygen; Packing density; Physical properties; Radiation; Radiation protection; Radiation shielding; Simulation; Software; Substitutes; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-024-12290-4

Four glasses of cadmium lead-borate glasses with nominal compositions of (75-X)B 2 O 3 –XPbO–5Na 2 O–10CdO–10ZnO: X = 5 (BPNCZPb-5), 10 (BPNCZPb-10), 15 (BPNCZPb-15), and 20 (BPNCZPb-20) mol% were fabricated using the well-known melt quenching route.The role of B 2 O 3 /PbO substitution on the physical properties and γ -ray shielding factors have been evaluated via MCNP simulation code and PhX software in the γ-energy range of 0.015: 15 MeV. The density ( ρ ) and molar volume ( V m ) of the examined glasses grows systematically from 4.82 to 5.664 g/cm 3 and from 18.88 to 22.02 cm 3 /mol as the PbO content increases from 5 to 20 mol% in the glass network. The oxygen molar volume (OMV) increased following the observation of an opposing the oxygen packing density (OPD) trend. The obtained values of simulated linear-absorption coefficient ( µ ) were in decent agreement with the values calculated by PhX software with a maximum relative differences, φ  = of 4.497%. The simulated µ values drop from 127.981 to 0.130 cm −1 for BPNCZPb-5, from 189.241 to 0.158 cm −1 for BPNCZPb-10, from 243.308 to 0.180 cm −1 for BPNCZPb-15, and from 299.755 to 0.206 cm −1 for BPNCZPb-20 at photon energy range from 0.015: 15 MeV. At 0.5, 5, and 10 MeV, the µ of the BPNCZPb-X glasses have higher values than those of concretes. The BPNCZPb-20 glass sample possessed the lowest half- (HVL) and tenth- (TVL) value layers. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) values reduced from ≈ 100.000% at 0.015 for all BPNCZPb-X glass samples to 6.305% (BPNCZPb-5), 7.587% (BPNCZPb-10), 8.626% (BPNCZPb-15), and 9.777% (BPNCZPb-20), respectively at gamma-ray energy 15 MeV. Results confirm that the suggested samples can be applied as alternative materials for radiation safety applications.