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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]

The paper describes the effect of high effective atomic number (Z eff) materials loading in polystyrene based thin-film Plastic Scintillators (PS). Thin plastic scintillator sheets have been loaded with high Z materials such as BaFBr:Eu, Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb, Gd 2 O 3 , BaF 2 , CeO 2 and Bi 2 O 3. Polystyrene based PS sheets of 250 ± 50 μ m thickness have been prepared by dissolving predetermined quantities of polystyrene, 2,5-Diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,4-bis(5-phenyl-2-oxazolyl) benzene (POPOP) in the p-xylene solvent. High Z eff material powders of 23 μ m size are mixed in the plastic scintillator solution and coated over the cellulose acetate-based transparency sheets. The dried films are peeled off, and their photoluminescence, radioluminescence, pulse height spectrum and response to alpha, beta, gamma and neutron radiations are studied by adopting suitable methods. The high Z eff materials for loading in PS are selected based on their physical properties like refractive index, bandgap, Z eff , Photoluminescence (PL) properties. While the composite scintillator loaded with 14.3 wt% of BaFBr:Eu2+ showed significant increase compare to other high Z materials. The loading concentration has been optimized as 14.3 wt% from the BaFBr:Eu2+ studies. Most of the composite scintillators showed improvement in radioluminescence and pulse height spectra for different radiations. • Polystyrene based thin plastic scintillator have been prepared by solvent-based fabrication method. • Thin composite plastic scintillator are studied with high Z eff material loading. • High Z eff material loaded composite scintillators showed enhanced response to radiation. • BaFBr:Eu loaded composite PS has shown the best promising result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]