Physical, optical and radiation shielding properties of boro-tellurite glass modified by heavy metal oxides

Abstract

Heavy metal oxides (HMOs) can enhance the physical, optical, and radiation shielding properties of glass. Through the comprehensive consideration of the absorption edge, the fast neutron removal cross-section, and transmittance of heavy metal oxides, the rapid determination of the shielding material system is achieved. Herein, B2O3–TeO2–BaO-MO (M = Bi, W, Cd, Mo) glasses are synthesized by the melt quenching method, and the effects of various heavy metal oxides on the glass performance are investigated. The physical and optical property results show that the addition of Bi2O3 provides glass with greater stiffness, a more densified glass network, and a relatively wide indirect optical bandgap compared to other oxides. Subsequently, the photon attenuation behavior of the B2O3–TeO2–BaO-MO glasses was evaluated using the MCNPX, Phy-X and XCOM. Compared to the shielding materials in service, all the four metal oxide glasses exhibit excellent shielding capabilities against X-rays, gamma rays, and fast neutron. Particularly, due to the higher density and effective atomic number of Bi2O3, its modified glass will have more extra-nuclear electrons per unit volume, which increases the probability of collision with incident photons, and thus exhibits superior radiation shielding properties than other glasses. The Bi2O3-modified glass exhibits an average specific lead equivalent of 0.441 mmPb/mm in the medical X-ray energy range (0.03–0.08 MeV), and only requires a thickness of 0.8 cm to achieve complete protection against this incident photon, which far exceeded the specific lead equivalent requirement of 0.22 mmPb/mm for “protection devices against diagnostic medical X-radiation".