Experimental investigation for radiation shielding performance of B2O3-TeO2-Bi2O3-ZnO-CaO glass system

Abstract

This work investigated the gamma-ray attenuation capability of four glass compositions labeled as BTBZC-1, BTBZC-2, BTBZC-3 and BTBZC-4, with fixed amount of Bi₂O₃ and TeO₂ (5 and 20 mol%, respectively), while the CaO and B₂O₃ decrease from 17 to 8 mol% (in 3 mol% decrement) and 38 to 32 mol% (in 2 mol% decrement), and the ZnO increases from 20 to 35 mol% (in 5 mol% increment). The data was evaluated experimentally using narrow beam method by different point sources and semiconductor detector (HPGe-detector). Experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions (Phy-X software), demonstrating strong agreement with R² values of 1. The LAC at 0.059 MeV is in the 12.332–13.146 cm⁻¹ range, decreasing at 0.662 MeV to 0.331–0.345 cm⁻¹, thus revealing the prepared glasses to exhibit high shielding efficiency at low energies, primarily due to the photoelectric effect’s dominance, while Compton scattering at higher energies leads to reduced attenuation. The addition of ZnO improves the shielding performance by increasing glass density and Zeff, as confirmed by lower HVL, TVL, and MFP values. The investigation highlights these glasses’ potential for radiation protection, with BTBZC-4 exhibiting superior performance due to its higher ZnO content.