The effective contribution of PbO on nuclear shielding properties of xPbO-(100 − x)P2O5 glass system: a broad range investigation

Abstract

The radiation shielding properties for glass system with the composition of xPbO-(100 − x)P2O5 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 mol%) were studied. For that purpose, 3 × 3 inch NaI(Tl) scintillation detector was designed to detect the photons using simulation code of MCNPX program. Consequently, the mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) were calculated. The predestined (μ/ρ) values using MCNPX code for twelve glass samples were checked together with the XMuDat and XCOM software outcomes. The half value layer (HVL), proton mass stopping power (MSP), exposure buildup factor (EBF) and proton projected range were estimated in a broad energy zone of 0.015–15 MeV. In addition, the neutron radiation shielding parameters i.e. mass removal cross section for neutron (∑R), Coherent neutron scattering length (bco), incoherent neutron scattering length (binc), coherent neutron scattering cross section (σco), incoherent neutron scattering cross section (σinc), total neutron scattering cross section (σtot) and absorption neutron scattering cross section (σabs) of glasses were computed. The addition of PbO has an impact on the radiation protection properties of phosphate glass systems improve the radiation shielding properties of phosphate glass samples, where (μ/ρ), ∑R and effective atomic number (Zeff) values increase when the chemical composition of lead oxide increase while HVL, EBF MSP and projected range values decrease. That underlines our research in that way that it appears that the addition of lead oxide has an impact on the radiation protection properties of phosphate glass systems.