An investigation of the effects of Nd2O3 on the mechanical, structural, and optical properties of borosilicate glasses for optimizing radiation shielding performance

Abstract

A group of glasses with a composition, 5Li₂O−(25-x) Bi₂O₃–10SiO₂–45B₂O₃–15SrO−xNd₂O₃ where x = 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 mol% was prepared to optimize shielding properties. The glass samples were coded as BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, and BiBNd3. Adding Nd₂O₃ instead of Bi₂O₃ reduced the density values, which are 5.098, 4.959, 4.930, and 4.859 g/cm³ for BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, and BiBNd3 samples, respectively. Rising Nd₂O₃ content also reduced the mechanical properties. For example, the Young's modulus values were 69.773, 68.327, 68.387, and 68.320 GPa for BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, and BiBNd3 samples, respectively, which were better than standard glasses of RS520 and RS360. The band gap values varied with the addition of Nd₂O₃, and their values were 2.848, 3.043, 2.613, and 2.665 eV for BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, and BiBNd3 samples, respectively. In addition, the absorption spectrum showed several absorption peaks related to Nd₂O₃ due to the transition from the ground state (4I_9/2) to the excited state of ⁴F_3/2, (⁴F_5/2 + ²H_9/2), (⁴F_7/2 + ⁴S_3/2), ⁴F_9/2, ²H_11/2, (⁴G_5/2 + ²G_7/2), and (²K_13/2 + ⁴G_7/2 + ⁴G_9/2). In addition, adding Nd₂O₃ reduces the neutron and gamma shielding features. For instance, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) values of 0.622 MeV for BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, and BiBNd3 were 0.500, 0.485, 0.480, and 0.470 cm⁻¹, which were better than the RS323-G19 and RS360 and they competed with the RS520. At the same time, the transmission factor at 5 cm and 0.662 MeV was 0.082, 0.088, 0.090, 0.09, 0.082, 0.246, and 0.201 for BiBNd0, BiBNd1, BiBNd2, BiBNd, RS520, RS323-G19, and RS360, respectively. Adding Nd₂O₃ instead of Bi₂O₃ reduced the fast neutron removal cross-section from 0.108 to 0.104 cm⁻¹. Lastly, the current glasses showed promising gamma, neutron, and mechanical shielding features better than other standard glasses and materials used in the radiation shielding field.