Sensitivity analysis of gamma-ray shielding characteristics to the TiO2 concentration in the Bi2O3–ZnO–Pb3O4–Al2O3 glass sample based on the Monte Carlo method

Abstract

In this paper, the MCNP Monte Carlo (MC) code, was adopted for evaluation the properties of protection against gamma-rays of the glass system with the composition of (55-x)Bi2O3–15Pb3O4–20Al2O3–10ZnO- xTiO2 with specific concentrations of (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mol percent). For this purpose, several parameters related to photon attenuation such as the, Half-Value Layer (HVL), Tenth-Value Layer (TVL), mean free range (MFP), mass attenuation coefficient (μm), effective atomic number (Zeff) and buildup factor (BF) was investigated at the different energy levels between 0.1 and 1.5 MeV. To verify the results of the simulation, the data obtained from the simulation were compared with the experimental data available in the XCOM database. The NIST-XCOM database and the results of the simulation in the present study were in good agreement. The percentage deviation (PD) between the XCOM database and the MCNP program for calculating the μm was less than 0.59% in most cases. The results show that compared to conventional protective materials such as concrete and lead, the new combination shows more effective attenuation parameters. The glass with the highest concentration of TiO2 has the most favorable state in terms of density compared to the investigated protective materials. The close agreement of μm measurements with the XCOM database of this research shows that MC modeling in this research is a valuable and valid method.