Holmium(III) oxide and its significant effects on the radiation shielding performance of P2O5 + B2O3 + ZnSO4 optical glasses

Abstract

Glasses are versatile materials whose uses span across a wide technological spectrum. The application of glasses in radiation protection directly depends on their chemical description. In the present study, we investigate the influence of Ho2O3 on the gamma-ray shielding performance of P2O5-B2O3-ZnSO4 glasses for selected gamma energies between 0.284 and 2.506 MeV. Three glass samples with the chemical composition: (40-x)P2O5 + 30B2O3 + 30ZnSO4 + xHo2O3, where x = 0.0, 0.5, and 1.0 mol% represents PBZH1–3 accordingly. The computation of the photon shielding parameters started with photon transmission simulation using GEANT4 simulation code and validated by XCOM. The mass attenuation coefficient MAC obtained via both methods were very close with deviations between 0.72% and 1.79%. The MAC of the glasses varied from 0.039 to 0.109 cm2 g−1 for PBZH1, 0.039 to 0.111 cm2 g−1 for PBZH2, and 0.039 to 0.113 cm2 g−1 for PBZH3. The mass attenuation coefficient exhibits strong dependence on the energy of gamma-ray and the changes in the chemical composition of the glasses. The half value layer values of the PBZH1, and PBZH3 samples ranged from 2.21 cm to 6.22 cm and 2.00 cm to 5.87 cm, respectively. The values of the effective atomic number for PbZH3 ranged from 10.80 to 10.30 within the selected incident photon energy. On the other hand, the effective atomic number of PbZH1 samples ranged from 10.29 to 10.19. Generally, PbZH samples with higher Ho2O3 content gave a composition with higher density, linear attenuation coefficient, and effective atomic number; but lower half value layer and mean free path within photons with energies of 0.284–2.506 MeV. The PbZH glass samples had better shielding efficiencies than commercial RS-253-G18 glass and ordinary concrete thus making them applicable for gamma-ray absorption purposes.