Electrical conductivity and significant radiation shielding properties of B2O3.Pb3O4.ZnO.Y2O3 glasses

Abstract

The electrical properties and radiation shielding characteristics are investigated for a glass system of the configuration 60% B2O3-35% Pb3O4-(5-x)%ZnO - x%Y2O3 with x from 0 to 3 mol%. Frequencies from 100 Hz to 5 MHz were applied to measure the ac conductivity in a temperature range between 310 and 700K. The values of ac conductivity (σac) are found in the range from 2×10−9 S.cm−1 to 5×10−2 S.cm−1, while the activation energy for ac conductivity (Eac) is found to fluctuate between 0.4 and 1.43 eV. The dc conductivity (σdc) and dc activation energy (Edc) are discussed according to thermal activation and small polaron hopping mechanisms. An alternation from mainly electronic to mainly ionic conduction mechanism is evidenced for the samples greater than 2% mol of the Y2O3. The radiation shielding characteristics are studied in wise of mass attenuation coefficient, μ/ρ, effective atomic number, Zeff, half value layer (HVL), and mean free path (MFP). The values of μ/ρ are obtained experimentally and theoretically by Phy-X/PSD software. The obtained relative deviation between theoretical and experimental results lies in the range from 0 to 3.8%. All the shielding factors demonstrate an inverse reliance on the Y2O3 content in the glasses. The MFP and HVL magnitudes of the glasses are compared with other traditional shielding materials and presented better attenuation ability. The relation between the shielding parameters and the electrical properties is discussed and it is also found that both properties are strongly affected by the interionic separations between the Pb ions in the glasses.