Search

Abstract In this paper, we studied the gamma photon attenuation properties for different germanate glasses systems with composition Sb 2 O 3 –GeO 2 –SiO 2 –Al 2 O 3 , TeO 2 –WO 3 –GeO 2 , GeO 2 –TeO 2 /SiO 2 –PbO–CaO–Tm 2 O 3 and B 2 O 3 –GeO 2 –Gd 2 O 3 –Eu 2 O 3 –GdF 3 –BaF 2. The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) for the selected germanate glasses were calculated at different energies (between 0.015 MeV and 15 MeV) using the MCNPX code. The calculated MCNPX μ/ρ values then compared with the WinXCom data to check the accuracy in the results. The results showed that the Sb 2 O 3 replacement by SiO 2 causes a decrease in μ/ρ for Sb 2 O 3 –GeO 2 –SiO 2 –Al 2 O 3 glass system. Also, it is found that for TeO 2 –WO 3 –GeO 2 glass system, μ/ρ decreases as GeO2 content increases from 1 to 20 mol%. While for GeO 2 –TeO 2 /SiO 2 –PbO–CaO–Tm 2 O 3 glass system, the results revealed that the glass samples contain TeO 2 possess higher μ/ρ values than the samples contain SiO 2. For the B 2 O 3 –GeO 2 –Gd 2 O 3 –Eu 2 O 3 –GdF 3 –BaF 2 glasses, we found that the μ/ρ values decrease as BaF 2 is increased from 0 to 15 mol%. Moreover, it is found that 50Sb-0Ge for series 1, TWG0 for series 2, 2G4T for series 3 and X = 0 for series 4 glass samples among the studied glasses have the highest effective atomic number values. On the basis of the results achieved, 50Sb-0Ge, TWG0, 2G4T and X = 0 samples have the best radiation shielding characteristics among the selected glasses. Highlights • Radiation shielding characteristics of different germanate glasses have been investigated. • The μ/ρ for the selected germanate glasses was evaluated by MCNPX simulation code at different energies. • The HVL results for the present germanate glasses suggested that the gamma photons absorption capacity increases as the density of the sample increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]