Scrutinizing the physical, structural, elastic, optical and gamma ray shielding properties of Samarium ions infused Niobium Bariumtelluroborate glasses

Abstract

The present work reports the physical, structural, elastic, optical, and radiation shielding studies on (80˗X)H3BO3+10TeO2+9.5Nb2O5+XBaO+0.5Sm2O3 (where X = 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 in wt%) glasses which is prepared by the melt quenching technique. The bending and stretching vibrations of the different compounds used are analyzed through FTIR instrumentation. The density and refractive indices are measured experimentally following Archimedes's principles and by using Abbe's refractometer, respectively. Various structural parameters are calculated to resolve the actual placement of atoms in the glass complex, which explains the compactness of the network. Elastic properties of the synthesized glasses are calculated to estimate the resistance of glass under stress. Additionally, the optical band gap is calculated, and the nature of bonds in the network is ionic compared to the covalent nature. Boron–Boron distance is the lowest for 50BNTBSm sample. The decrease in OPD content is linked with the decrease in the number of oxygen atoms, for 10BNTBSm and 50BNTBSm glasses, it is 289 and 209 oxygen atoms, respectively. Λth value is high for 10BNTBSm glass sample with the minimum BaO reinforcement. The Urbach's energy varies from 0.534 to 0.967 eV, corresponding to xBNTBSm samples indicating fewer defects in the glasses. Moreover, gamma-ray and fast neutron attenuation properties of xBNTBSm are determined and compared with numerous shielding materials such as concrete and other types of glasses. Results showed that replacing 40% of H3BO3 with BaO leads to a net improvement in gamma-ray attenuation properties. However, this situation was the opposite in the fast neutron absorption properties. A clear superiority of sample 50BNTBSm was also reported against the compared absorbent materials. It can be concluded that replacing 40% of H3BO3 with BaO would provide some significant improvements to Niobium Bariumtelluroborate glasses.