Studies of physical, optical, and radiation shielding properties of Bi2O3-TeO2-MgO-Na2O-B2O3 glass system

Abstract

The Bi2O3-TeO2-MgO-Na2O-B2O3 glasses were fabricated using the melt quenching method. Present samples increase in density from 3.833 to 4.283 g/cm3 as bismuth concentration rises. The average boron-boron separation and oxygen packing density are reduced when bismuth oxide is added to the network. As bismuth content rises, the indirect band gap value reduces from 2.626 eV to 2.492 eV. The refractive index and molar refractivity increase whereas the optical electronegativity values decrease as bismuth oxide increases. The gamma-ray shielding parameters for the prepared glasses were determined via Phy-X / PSD computer program. The energies used in this study varied between 0.248 and 1.275 MeV. The mass attenuation coefficient values are range from 0.309 cm2/g (for Bi20) to 0.358 cm2/g (for Bi35). At all energies, the MAC improves when Bi2O3 is added. The dependence of the half-value layer for the glasses with the Bi2O3 content is studied, and we found that the lowest thickness occurred at 0.284 MeV. It is 0.586 cm for Bi20, 0.532, 0.492 and 0.452 cm for Bi25-Bi35, while the HVL reached the maximum values of 3.192, 3.047, 2.97 and 2.82 cm at 1.275 MeV. This HVL result indicates that more radiation is being attenuated in the glass with a high concentration of Bi2O3.