Enhancement of shielding ability using PbF2 in Fe-reinforced bismuth borate glasses

The PFBBF-x glasses with the chemical structure xPbF(2) - (99.5 - x)(Bi2O3 + B2O3) - 0.5Fe(2)O(3) (where x changes from 0 to 50 in the steps of 10) were prepared using melt quenching method. The concentration of PbF2 is increased gradually in the steps of 10 mol% at the cost of Bi2O3-B2O3, where the Bi2O3 and B(2)O(3)concentrations are reduced in 20:80 ratios. The prepared PFBBF glasses were investigated using XRD, UV-Visible, FTIR, Raman and Radiation shielding feature for their potential use in the optical applications and as shielding materials. With the excess of PBF2,we found an increase in percentage of the density to be 38.Moreover,the optical bandgap E-opt values for the PFBBF glasses rose from 2.826 eV (PFBBF-0) to 3.090 eV (PFBBF-50) while their Urbach energy (Delta E) were less than 0.179 eV. Furthermore, refractive index (n) values for the glasses reduced from 2.4456 for PFBBF-0 glass to 2.3733 for PFBBF-50 glass. On the other hand, the Monte Carlo method was utilized to estimate the radiation shielding performance of our prepared PFBBF glasses. Analysis of linear (mu) and mass attenuation (mu/rho) coefficient showed that mu and(mu/rho) decay from their maximum values 25.758 cm(-1)(4.146 cm(2)/g) at 0.1 MeV to 0.160 cm(-1)(0.036 cm(2)/g) at 6 MeV while values of effective atomic number varies from 14.44 to 75.16 for PFBBF-0-PFBBF-50, respectively. Generally, total mass stopping power and projected range of electron, proton, alpha-particle, and carbon ion varied according to the trend: PFBBF-0 > PFBBF-10 > PFBBF-20 > PFBBF-30 > PFBBF-40 > PFBBF-50. The increase in the concentration of PbF(2)was found to have a strong influence on the slow/thermal, and fast neutron transmission and cross sections in the glasses. A breakdown of obtained shielding parameters highlighted the superior shielding ability of the PFBBF glasses as against some previously investigated glasses and conventional radiation shields.

Automated summary

The properties of a series of PFBBF-x glasses with different chemical structures were studied, including density variation, optical bandgap, refractive index, and radiation shielding performance. The results show that with the increase of PbF2 concentration, the density and optical bandgap of the glasses both increased.