Zinc boro-aluminosilicate glass for infrared and gamma sensing applications: Physical properties and gamma ray attenuation aspects

The demand for more materials for efficient shielding of radiation has been on the rise day by day due to some witnessed progress in applications of radiations in science and technology. In this research, we investigated the gamma ray shielding capacity of zinc boro-aluminosilicate (ZBASi) glass by varying concentrations of B₂O₃. Fundamentally, experimental and theoretical means were both adopted to evaluate photon shielding characteristics of the studied glasses. Additionally, amorphous nature and crystalline sizes of the glass sample were determined using XRD technique and Debye Scherrer equation respectively. The results show that as the B₂O₃ content increased from 55 to 70 wt %, the optical bandgap, and packing density decreased. However, the density, and molar volume were found to increase accordingly. Using Phy-x/PSD and genat4, the maximum values of mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for ZBASi-4, ZBASi-3, ZBASi-2, and ZBASi-1 were found to be 20.2, 17.5, 16.3, and 9.6 cm²/g at 20 KeV, respectively. With respect to exposure rate, the exposure buildup factor (EBF) is low in the region where density is high, meaning that photon attenuation power is high in the region of low EFB (high density). The production of aluminosilicate glass poses fewer environmental risks than that of traditional lead-based shielding materials. It is therefore a more environmentally friendly option since harmful heavy metals are not involved.