Radiation shielding performance of a newly synthesized bismuth borate glass system

Abstract

The melt-quenching process was used to produce 9Na2O–5BaO–Fe2O3–25Bi2O3-(20–0.5x)SiO2-(40–0.5x)B2O3- x ZrO2 glasses, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 12 mol. %. The lead-free glasses were mechanically investigated in terms of hardness and fracture toughness via the indentation method. The hardness of glasses was meaningfully increased from 4.28 to 5.0 GPa, 17% while the fracture toughness of glasses was slightly reduced from 1.66 to 1.26 MPa m1/2, 24%.. The phase formation of the lead-free glass was studied using the X-ray diffraction peaks in the range of 20⁰-60⁰. The chemical bonds and bonding mechanisms in the prepared glasses were examined through Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra. The gamma mass attenuation coefficient μ/ρ of the glasses was determined for a 15 keV‒15 MeV energy spectrum by XCOM computation and FLUKA simulation data. The μ/ρ estimated through FLUKA simulations and XCOM agreed well. The photon shielding related parameters showed that the radiation absorption competence of the glasses decreased as Zr content increased for energies below 500 keV. The variation in the chemical structure of the glasses did not significantly affect the photon attenuation competence at energies beyond 500 keV. The absence of Pb makes the present glasses more attractive for shielding applications from health and environmental perspectives.