Examination of radiation shielding features of Bi2O3 modified Lithium Zinc Silicate glass system

Abstract

In this study, several radiation shielding characteristics of Bi₂O₃ modified Lithium Zinc Silicate glass systems were reported using the Phy-X program. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) demonstrates a substantial energy dependency only at low energy range (0.284 MeV < E < 0.662 MeV), however it exhibits a slight energy dependency at high energies. It was shown that the transmission factor (TF) increases with energy, suggesting that at higher energies, more gamma rays can pass through the lithium zinc Silicate glasses. We reported the transmission factor (TF) at different thicknesses and we found that the TF at 0.347 MeV for Li25Bi0 varies between 0.92 and 0.77 for thicknesses of 0.3 and 0.9 cm respectively. Also, Li5Bi20's TF is lower than Li25Bi0's, which means that the effectiveness of the samples as shields will increase with the quantity of Bi₂O₃ present. The TVL is decreased by the introduction of Bi₂O₃, with Li5Bi20 possessing the smallest TVL and being regarded as the superior absorber. The lowest TVL recorded for selected glasses are 7.608, 3.189, 2.188, 1.677 and 1.427 cm for Li25Bi0 to Li5Bi20 respectively. The TVL results showed that at 0.284 MeV, the TVL for the Li25Bi0 is 5.33 times the TVL of Li5Bi20. At 0.347 MeV, the TVL of Li25Bi0 is 4.08 times the TVL of Li5Bi20, while at 0.662 MeV the TVL of Li25Bi0 is 2.36 times the TVL of Li5Bi20. We compared the effective atomic number (Z_eff) for the selected glasses with other materials and we found that all these glasses have higher Z_eff than ordinary concrete, and RS-253-G18, except Li25Bi0 sample which shows lower Z_eff than RS-253-G18.