Influence of ZnO variation on glass characteristics: Physical, mechanical properties and radiation shielding

This study examines the effects of different ZnO concentrations on the mechanical and radiation shielding characteristics of a glass series that is fabricated using the melt quenching method, where x = 0, 10, 20, and 30 mol.% and the chemical formula is (75-x) B₂O₃+15Na₂O+5CuO+(5 + x) ZnO. The physical and mechanical properties of the prepared glass samples were investigated, where the increase in ZnO concentration between 5.00 mol.% and 35.00 mol.% increases the prepared glass density between 2.319 and 3.032 mol.%, respectively. Additionally, the Makishima-Makinze model was used to examine the mechanical properties of prepared glass samples. The elastic moduli reduced with increasing the substitution of B₂O₃ by ZnO, where the increase in ZnO concentration between 5.00 mol.% and 35.00 wt% reduces the micro-hardness between 5.279 and 4.578 GPa. Furthermore, the NaI (Tl) detector was used to examine the radiation shielding properties of prepared glass samples. The measurements show an enhancement in the linear attenuation coefficient of prepared glass samples with increasing the ZnO content, where the increase in the ZnO concentration between 5.00 and 35.00 mol.% increases the linear attenuation coefficient by 29.927 %, 25.919 %, 30.917 %, 34.529 %, and 43.942 %, respectively at gamma-ray energies of 0.511, 0.662, 1.173, 1.275, and 1.332 MeV.

The increase in the linear attenuation coefficient enhances the radiation protection efficiency of prepared samples and decreases the half-value layer for the prepared glass samples.