Designing a Lead-free and high-density glass for radiation facilities: Synthesis, physical, optical, structural, and experimental gamma-ray transmission properties of newly designed barium-borosilicate glass sample

Abstract

We report the design, synthesis, optical, structural, and gamma-ray attenuation properties of a newly developed Lead-free and high-density borosilicate glass sample for its potential applications in medical and industrial radiation facilities. A barium-borosilicate glass sample (BSBaZn) was designed and synthesized using nominal composition of 7B2O3-50SiO2-38ZnO-5BaO. The FTIR spectrum of the BSBaZn is revealed four fundamental regions. These regions are 400–620 cm−1, 620–770 cm−1, 800–1210 cm−1, and 1210–1500 cm−1. Transmittance rate in the wavelength range of 350–1100 nm is reported as 80 %. A high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detector along with an energetic 133Ba radioisotope is also utilized for experimental gamma-ray transmission studies. Various fundamental gamma-ray shielding parameters of BSBaZn are determined and accordingly compared with many other glass shields. MCNPX (version 2.7.0) general purpose Monte Carlo code is utilized for gamma-ray transmission factor (TF) values. The results showed that the synthesized BSBaZn sample has promising structural, optical, and physical properties in addition to promising gamma-ray attenuation properties. The high transparency of BSBaZn along with its high-density may be considered as an important selection criterion for its implementation in protection purposes in medical and industrial radiation facilities, where the source and patients monitoring play a significant role.