Significant impact of V2O5 content on lead phosphor-arsenate glasses for mechanical and radiation shielding applications

Abstract

Our samples which have the formulation 3As2O3 – 37PbO–P2O5 - x V2O5, x = (0 (APPV0.0) ≤ x ≤ 5 (APPV5.0) mol.%), was fabricated by the melt-quench technique. The objective of this article is to examine the structural, mechanical, and radiation shielding attributes of prepared glasses. XRD method was done to analyze the nature of these glasses. During this investigation, we replaced P2O5 with V2O5, which resulted an increase in density, oxygen packing density, velocities, and elastic modulus while a decreasing in molar volume and oxygen molar volume were detected. Elastic moduli, both experimental and theoretical are completely agreed. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) values of glasses were 86.741, 86.74, 86.738, 86.736, 86.733, 86.727 at 0.015 MeV for APPV0.0, APPV0.5, APPV1.0, APPV2.0, APPV3.0, and APPV5.0 glasses, respectively and around 0.035 cm2g-1 at 15 MeV for all glasses. APPV0.0 glasses possess the highest values of the effective atomic number (Zeff), while APPV5.0 possesses the lowest values in all photon energy. The half value layer (HVL) property of the investigated glasses confirms the trend of (APPV0.0)HVL > (APPV0.5)HVL > (APPV1.0)HVL > (APPV2.0)HVL > (APPV3.0)HVL > (APPV5.0)HVL. Increasing in the V2O5 molar ratios from 0.0 to 5.0 mol% led to slight decrease in the exposure and energy absorption buildup factors (EBF and EABF) values. Therefore, the best shielding capacity for APPV5.0 glasses among all other glasses.