Evaluation of radiation shielding characteristics of B2O3-K2O-Li2O-HMO (HMO=TeO2/ SrO /PbO/Bi2O3) glass system: A simulation study using MCNP5 code

We fabricated borate glass samples by using 10 mol% of PbO, Bi2O3, TeO2 and SrO to the 10 Li2O -20 K2O -60 B2O3 glass. The impact of these four oxides on the mechanical and photon shielding features has been studied. The Monte Carlo simulation was utilized in order to estimate the shielding capacity in the low energy range between 23.1 and 103 keV. Among the fabricated glasses, glasses reinforced with a concentration of 10 mol% of Bi2O3 have the highest linear attenuation coefficient decreased from 84.796 to 7.161 cm -1. In contrast, the lowest linear attenuation coefficient was achieved for the glasses reinforced with 10 mol % of SrO. The linear attenuation coefficient varied between 17.874 and 0.591 cm -1, raising the energy between 23.1 and 103 keV, respectively. Moreover, the transmission factor, radiation protection efficiency, lead equivalent thickness, and the half-value thickness for the fabricated glasses were also estimated. The results refer that the glasses reinforced the Bi2O3 have a high shielding capacity in the low energy interval compared to the glasses reinforced with SrO, TeO2, and PbO. Therefore, glasses reinforced with Bi2O3 are a good candidate for use in medical low gamma and X-rays protection applications.

Automated summary

The impact of adding PbO, Bi2O3, TeO2, and SrO on the mechanical and photon shielding features of glass was studied. The results showed that glass reinforced with Bi2O3 exhibited higher shielding capacity, making it a potential candidate for medical low gamma and X-ray protection applications.