Charged and uncharged radiation shielding performance of CaO+ZnO+Na2B2O7 glass system

Abstract

In this study, charged (β-particles, protons (p), alpha-particles, and heavy carbon ion) and uncharged (gamma-rays and neutrons) radiation transparency data of ZnO–CaO–Na2B4O7–CuO glasses were obtained and analysed with the aim to ascertain the possibility of using the glasses for radiation protection functions. The glasses were chemically defined as xZnO–(40-x)CaO–59Na2B4O7–1CuO for 0 ≤ x ≤ 40 mol% with an incremental step of 10 mol%. Mass attenuation coefficient μρ for photon energies within the interval of 0.1 and 10 MeV was obtained through the simulation of gamma-ray transmission using the FLUKA Monte Carlo tool and direct summation by XCOM. For a similar energy range, parameters related to the attenuation of charged particles were estimated with the aid of SRIM and NIST databases. On the other hand, mass removal and total cross-sections of fast (FN) and moderated (MN) neutrons were evaluated through definite expressions. The μρ varies from 0.021 to 0.166 cm2/g, 0.022–0.178 cm2/g, 0.022–0.190 cm2/g, 0.022–0.202 cm2/g and 0.022–0.213 cm2/g for ZnO concentration of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mol percent accordingly. Values of the of gamma ray shielding quantities revealed that ZnO improves the gamma ray absorption abilities of the glasses. Generally, charged radiation shielding ability drifts in the order: ZCNaBC5 <ZCNaBC4 <ZCNaBC3 <ZCNaBC2 <ZCNaBC1. The absorption cross-section for FN and MN maintained a steady rise as the ZnO content and glass density of the glasses. The glasses showed better photon, charged radiation, fast and thermal neutron absorption ability which makes them hypothetically useful for shielding and associated functions in radiation environments.