Influence of PbO content on the gamma ray shielding properties of lead boro-telluro-phosphate glasses

This paper investigates the influence of lead monoxide (PbO) content on the gamma ray attenuation coefficients of boro-telluro-phosphate glasses. The MCNP5 simulation code has been applied to estimate the mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) of Sm3+ doped (60-x)B2O3-xPbO-14TeO2-10P2O5-7.5BaO-7.5CdO-1Sm2O3 (x = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) glass system within 0.02-10 MeV photon energy range. The MCNP5 simulated results are accord with the theoretical XCOM results perfectly. The results show that the increasing content of PbO in the glass compositions can improve the gamma ray shielding capability of the studied glasses. With the biggest content of PbO in Pb40B20 glass, superior HVL and Zeff values are observed. The values of HVL for Pb40B20 glass vary from 0.0035 to 3.6824 cm, and the values of Zeff vary from 25.94 to 70.05 depending on the photon energy 0.02-10 MeV. In addition, the boro-telluro-phosphate glasses have been compared with types of commercial concretes and glasses in terms of HVL.

Automated summary

The study found that increasing the content of PbO in the glass can enhance the gamma ray shielding capability, with Pb40B20 glass showing the best shielding effect, having higher HVL and Zeff values.