Cadmium oxide reinforced 46V2O5–46P2O5–(8−x)B2O3–xCdO semiconducting oxide glasses and resistance behaviors against ionizing gamma rays

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the contribution of B2O3/CdO substitution on gamma-ray attenuation behaviors of 46V2O5–46P2O5–(8−x)B2O3–xCdO (x = 0–8 mol%) glass system. Accordingly, attenuation coefficients along with half and tenth value layers of five different samples were determined in 0.015 MeV–15 MeV photon energy range. Moreover, effective atomic numbers and effective atomic weight along with exposure and energy absorption buildup factors were determined in same energy range. The result showed that B2O3/CdO substitution has a direct effect on behaviors of studied semiconducting oxide glasses against ionizing gamma-rays. Our findings showed that increasing CdO reinforcement has an obvious impact on gamma-ray attenuation properties especially in the low energy range, where photoelectric effect dominates the photon–matter interaction. Moreover, half-value layer, mean-free path and tenth value layer also decrease with an increase in the content of CdO in the composition. Consequently, VPBCd8 sample with 8% mole CdO additive was reported with the minimum half-value layer, the mean-free path, tenth value layer exposure build-up factor and energy absorption build-up factors. The outcomes would be useful for scientific community to observe the most suitable substitution type along with related semiconducting oxide glass composition to provide the aforementioned shielding properties in terms of needs and utilization requirements.