Gamma-ray shielding properties of soda-lime glass and glass ceramic: An experimental and Monte Carlo simulation study

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to determine the gamma shielding properties of soda-lime glass and glass ceramic. The linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) of these glass types were measured using a 3ʺx3ʺ NaI(Tl) detector system. Four different gamma sources, 133Ba (356 keV), 22Na (511 and 1275 keV), 137Cs (661.7 keV) and 60Co (1173 and 1332 keV), were used. In addition, the simulation results obtained by modeling the NaI(Tl) detector system with the FLUKA Monte Carlo code and the results obtained with the XCOM database were compared with the experimentally measured results. Experimental LAC results were measured as 0.2167 and 0.2335 cm−1 in soda-lime glass and glass ceramic glasses, respectively, at 356 keV, the lowest gamma energy in the study, and at 0.1189 and 0.1314 cm−1, respectively, at 1332 keV, the highest gamma energy. The simulation LAC results obtained with the FLUKA code were calculated as 0.2151 and 0.2524 cm−1 at 356 keV, and 0.1182 and 0.1319 cm−1 at 1332 keV, respectively, for soda-lime glass and glass ceramic glasses. The glass ceramic LAC results were shown to be higher than soda-lime glass, both experimentally and theoretically. Mass attenuation coefficients (MAC), transmission factor (TF), and Half value layer (HVL) were calculated based on the LAC results. It was found that the HVL value rose in accordance with increases in the energy value, and that the glass ceramic's HVL value was lower than for soda-lime glass. As a result of the study, soda-lime glass and glass ceramic gamma shielding properties were determined using three different methods, with evaluations made on radiation shielding by making comparisons between the glass types.