Bismuth oxide effects on optical, structural, mechanical, and radiation shielding features of borosilicate glasses

Abstract

Four glasses were synthesized using traditional melting and then the annealing process to study the possible enhancement effects of heavy metals like Bi2O3 on the borosilicate glass system for the composition ((50-x)B2O3–5SiO2–40MgO-xBi2O3 where x = 5, 10, 15, and 20). The structural features were investigated using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Many physical and mechanical parameters have been studied. Optical absorption was measured for all samples to investigate direct and indirect transitions for optical band gap energy (Eg) and Urbach’s energy (EU) and extract various optical properties. The well-known Phy-X simulation was utilized to achieve the study’s goal of calculating the shielding parameters of various gamma energies. Based on XRD results, the amorphous nature of all samples was observed. Adding Bi2O3 instead of the B2O3 side improves the ionizing radiation shielding properties and glass transparency. For example, the MAC values at 15 keV increased from 34.75244 to 73.80841 cm2/g with adding Bi2O3. At the same time, the glass transparency rose from 62 % to 72 %. In contrast, adding Bi2O3 reduced the glass stability according to mechanical and structural properties results. For example, Young’s modulus reduced from 88.745 to 62.109 GPa with increasing Bi2O3. The packing density (Vt) also decreased from 0.606 to 0.468. Based on the results, the current glass is valid for use in a radiation shielding field.