PSZB glass as a shielding material: Evaluating physical, mechanical, and gamma ray shielding performance

Abstract

The PbO-SrO-ZnO-B₂O₃ (PSZB) glasses were synthesized through the melt-quenching. The introduction of larger-sized PbO into the glass matrix led to structural alterations, elucidated by a marginal elevation in density and molar volume values from 4.292 g/cm³ to 4.922 g/cm³ and 29.812 cm³ mol⁻¹ to 30.676 cm³ mol⁻¹ respectively. The expansion of the network was found to contribute to the rise in oxygen molar volume (V_o) from 15.691 to 19.173 cm³ mol⁻¹. Phy-X software was used to compute the shielding characteristics theoretically in the energy range of 0.015–15 MeV. The mass attenuation coefficients (MAC), half value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) have been tested against photon energy. The radiation shielding capabilities increased with increasing PbO content. The present glasses' HVL are compared to that of different tellurite glasses at 0.1 and 0.15 MeV. PSZB4 glass with greater PbO content (50 mol%) has shown outstanding gamma radiation shielding properties than its counterparts.