Improving optical, structural, mechanical and radiation shielding properties for B2O3–Er2O3 glasses: BaO and PbO2 effects

Abstract

This investigation explored the effects of substituting B₂O₃ with BaO and PbO₂ on the optical, mechanical, and radiation attenuation characteristics of a quaternary glass system comprising BaO, PbO₂, Er₂O₃, and B₂O₃. The codes used for the glasses are Ba20Er2, Ba22Er2, Ba24Er2, and Ba26Er2, corresponding to the BaO and PbO₂ contents. The absorption spectra was used to determine the optical features, with the mechanical properties defined according to the Makishima and Mackenzie model. The Phy-X software was used to evaluate the prepared glasses' radiation shielding properties across the 0.015–15 MeV energy range. The Ba22Er2 glass's mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) is 58.403, 6.216, 0.974, 0.064, and 0.035 cm²/g at 0.015, 0.050, 0.150, 1, and 5 MeV, respectively. The results demonstrated that higher amounts of BaO and PbO₂ in the glass system result in a greater MAC across all energy levels. The effective atomic number values follow the order Ba20Er2 < Ba22Er2 < Ba24Er2 < Ba26Er2, indicating that BaO, PbO₂, and Er₂O₃ addition increases the glasses' radiation shielding performance. For all glasses, the half-value layer (HVL) is low at 0.015 MeV (range: 0.002–0.003 cm) and increases with rising energy, reaching 1.129–1.330 cm at 0.5 MeV and varying between 3.765 and 4.445 cm at 6 MeV. The Ba26Er2 glass exhibits the smallest HVL, while the Ba20Er2 glass has the largest, indicating that increasing the BaO and PbO₂ content reduces the thickness necessary for a 50% attenuation of the incoming radiation. Adding BaO and PbO₂ instead of B₂O₃ lowered the mechanical parameters. For instance, the young modulus for Ba20Er2, Ba22Er2, Ba24Er2, and Ba26Er2 are 83.626, 80.723, 77.831, and 74.939 GPa, respectively. Also, there was a 2.977 to 2.866 eV band gap value reduction for Ba20Er2 and Ba26Er2. Finally, it can be concluded that the shielding properties for current glasses are enhanced by adding PbO₂ and BaO, with the glass stability reduced.