Radiation shielding capacity of Li2O-SiO2/GeO2 glasses doped with rare earth oxides: Nuclear security applications

Abstract

In the present work, the ionizing radiation (namely, gamma-rays, charged particles, and neutrons) attenuation parameters of Li2O–SiO2 (denoted as LS) and Li2O–SiO2–GeO2 glasses doped with Y2O3 and In2O3 (LGY and LGI) glasses were estimated and analyzed with the aim of exploring their shielding potentials. The gamma-ray transmission attenuation coefficient was simulated by the FLUKA code and also estimated by XCOM. Also, the stopping powers and ranges of electrons, protons, α-particles, and carbon ions were estimated for particle kinetic energies within 15–15000 keV. The fast and thermal (25 meV) neutron cross-sections were estimated for the three glasses. At 15 MeV, the mass attenuation coefficient is 0.019, 0.021 and 0.022 cm2/g while the linear attenuation coefficient magnitude varied within the range of 0.047–11.564 cm−1, 0.061–32.008 cm−1 and 0.068–38.122 cm−1 for LS, LGY, and LGI, respectively. The effective atomic number varied from 8.21 to 12.00 for LS, 8.71–22.71 for LGY, and 8.78–26.37 for LGI. Likewise, the charged particle shielding ability of the glasses was in the order: LS < LGY < LGI. This trend was conserved for the neutrons’ cross-sections. Compared to conventional and recently researched shields, LS, LGY, and LGI present viable alternative glass shields in nuclear radiation applications.