Bismuthite and cassiterite-doped borosilicate glass systems for X-rays attenuation: Fabrication and characterisation

Abstract

For the first time, X-ray shielding glass (XSG) was fabricated using rice husk (RH) silica, bismuth, and tin mineral ores. The objective was to promote waste valorisation and circular economy by minimising the use of analytical grade silicon and metal oxides in large-scale radiation shielding glass production. The physical, structural, and low-energy X-ray attenuation properties of the new bismuthite and cassiterites-doped glass were characterised using XRD, FTIR, and low-energy mobile X-ray shielding analyses. The X-ray shielding parameters linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP) were comparatively examined alongside commercial lead/barium XSG used in hospital radiology units. XRD results showed that glasses with 0, 5 and 15 wt% dopants contain nanocrytallites measuring 19.43, 38.85 and 42.44 nm, respectively, with peaks in the 2Θ (28°) vicinity. FTIR revealed structural modifications that demonstrate the network modulation capabilities of cassiterite-sourced Sn ions. At 70 kVp tube voltage, the MAC of the 20 wt% dopant glass compares favourably with commercial Pb/Ba glass, while the 25 wt% variant has lower values than commercial Pb/Ba glass at 80 kVp tube voltage. The HVL and MFP of 25 wt% dopant glass compared favourably with commercial glass at 60 kVp X-ray tube voltage, suggesting the new glasses with x = 15, 20, 25 wt% dopants are competitive candidates for viewing window applications in low energy X-ray radiology units. Future studies will investigate the radiation attenuation efficiency of the new glass systems using point gamma sources.