Radiation shielding, optical, and physical properties of alkali borate glasses modified with Cu2+/Zn2+ ions

Three systems of alkali borate glasses containing either 0.15% CuO or ZnO (mol. %) were prepared using melting-annealing technique. Some of the glasses optical, physical, and radiation shielding properties have been interpreted. The optical UV absorbance spectra show a good stability before and after gamma irradiation. Also, many of the glasses physical parameters have been calculated, such as optical energy band gap (E-opt), refractive index (n), optical transmittance coefficient (T), reflection loss (R-L), optical electronegativity (X), metallizatioxn criterion (M-Criterion), static dielectric constant(epsilon(Static)), and optical dielectric constant (epsilon(Optical)). The efficiency of the glasses as radiation shielding materials has been by simulated and discussed by Monte Carlo code (MCNP-5) and calculated theoretically by Phy-X/PSD program, such as linear attenuation coefficient LAC (mu, cm(-1)), mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho), half-value layer (HVL), and fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS, n-ary sumation (R) (cm(-1))). The glasses show close efficiency to shield radiation; however, the difference depends on the significant variation in molecular weight (MW) of the introduced transition metal ion and the effective atomic number of the prepared glasses.

Automated summary

Three systems of alkali borate glasses containing either 0.15% CuO or ZnO were prepared and their optical, physical, and radiation shielding properties were analyzed. The glasses showed good stability in optical properties before and after gamma irradiation. Their efficiency as radiation shielding materials was discussed based on calculations and simulations, showing high efficiency depending on the molecular weight of transition metal ions and the effective atomic number of the glasses.