Radiation shielding properties of bismuth borate glasses doped with different concentrations of cadmium oxides

The current study is aimed to investigate the gamma ray and neutron shielding properties of the bismuth borate glass system with various concentration of cadmium oxide (0, 5, 10 and 15 mol%). The XRD spectra confirms the amorphous state of the prepared samples. A number of physical and mechanical properties (molar volume, oxygen molar volume, oxygen packing density, Poisson's ratio, optical absorption and dissolution rates) have been determined. The mass attenuation coefficients were estimated at different energy levels by using XCOM and EXABcal programs. The gamma and neutron beam shielding properties are evaluated through the calculation of several parameters such as equivalent number, specific gamma ray constant, gamma dose rate, specific absorbed fraction of energy and total neutron removal cross-section. Comparing with the standard gamma ray shielding materials, the new composition exhibits promising properties in terms of mass attenuation, halve value layer and mean free path. The glass with the highest concentration of CdO was found to be good shielding material for neutrons compared with some standard shielding materials (water, graphite, ordinary concrete and hematite-serpentine concrete).