Gamma-ray shielding properties of lead borovanadate glasses

The gamma-ray shielding properties for the xPbO center dot 50B(2)O(3)center dot(50-x)V2O5 glass systems (where x varied between 20 and 49 mol%) were investigated. The photon attenuation factors were determined using Phy-X/PSD software to evaluate the influence of PbO on the radiation shielding ability of the glass. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) increased with the addition of PbO. We discussed the effects of photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production on the MAC values at different energy regions. The highest half value layer (HVL) for the investigated borovanadate glasses was reported at 284 keV and lie within the range of 0.5067 and 0.931 cm. The sample containing the highest content of PbO (49 mol%) had the lowest HVL, which indicates that it is the most effective radiation shield among the tested borovanadate glasses. The tenth value layer (TVL) results revealed that the shielding ability for the borovanadate glasses improved when the percentage of PbO increased from 20 to 49 mol%. The least TVL values of the samples with 20 and 49 mol% of PbO were 1.682 cm at 284 keV and 2.432 cm at 347 keV.