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In this work, series of novel metatitanate ceramics mixed with SnO2 (BTO, STO, BTO@SnO2, STO@SnO2) have been successfully prepared via the solid-state reaction route. The XRD patterns indicate that the BTO, BTO@SnO2 crystallized into the tetragonal structure, where a cubic structure was obtained for STO and STO@SnO2 ceramics. The refinement of the data revealed a variation in lattice parameters of the ceramics. The optical properties were analyzed by using an ultra–visible spectrophotometer. The results showed that values of optical band gap Eg are in the range of 3.0–3.3 eV for all ceramics. Moreover, the radiation shielding factors were reported and the results demonstrated that there is a decreasing tendency in the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) as the energy changes from 0.2234 to 2.506 MeV. From the LAC results, the BaTiO3 ceramic is the most influential at blocking radiation. The half-value layer (HVL) was examined and we found a notable difference between the HVL of the four prepared ceramics. BTO has the least HVL and takes the range 0.725–4.53 cm between 0.2234 and 2.506 MeV. HVL minimum value is obtained at 0.2234 MeV for all compositions and equals 0.725, 0.895, 1.559, and 1.265 cm for BaTiO3, BTO@SnO2, STO, and STO@SnO2 respectively. The change in the transmission factor (TF) of the fabricated ceramics against the energy and the thickness is discussed, and we found that the four ceramics have the minimum TF at 0.2234 MeV and the greatest at 2.506 MeV. The TF for BTO is 56.31% at 0.2234 MeV, 73.76% at 0.356 MeV, 80.25% at 0.511 MeV and 91.3% at 2.506 MeV. The TF results suggest that the fabricated ceramics are good attenuators at low energies. The radiation shielding results confirmed that the prepared ceramics can be exploited as good candidates for radiation shielding applications.

Zirconium–Titanium–Thallium Ternary Oxide Ceramic (0.5ZrO2-(0.5-x)TiO2-xTl2O3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25 mol %) was synthesized via solid-state reaction. Advanced analytical technique like Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) were used to study the microstructure and the solubility of thallium oxide in the ZrO2/TiO2 mixture. The diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence techniques were employed to investigate the optical properties of the prepared alloys for various Tl2O3 mol% concentrations. In addition, the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for the synthesized ceramic samples was measured experimentally and compared with XCOM data. Our experimental values were in good agreement with XCOM data. Various shielding parameters for gamma-rays, neutron, proton, and alpha particles were evaluated using XCOM, Phy-X, and SRIM programs. The Tl2O3 content linearly affects the gamma-rays shielding parameters, while the Tl2O3 content has an inverse relationship with neutron and charged particle shielding parameters. This study proved that our Zirconium–Titanium–Thallium Ternary Oxide Ceramic samples can be applied as ionizing radiation shielding material very well.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Bi2O3 concentration and particle size on Bi2O3 glass. The tested glasses had the composition of SiO2–Bi2O3–CaO–MgO–B2O3–K2O–Na2O–ZnO. Ordinary glass was compared with glasses with 10% Bulk Bi2O3, 10% Bi2O3 Nanoparticles (NPs), 20% Bulk Bi2O3, and 20% Bi2O3 nanoparticles. The mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) of all the investigated glasses were determined between 0.0595 MeV and 1.41 MeV. The results demonstrated that increasing the Bi2O3 content in the glass matrix improved their shielding capability, as well as showing that the NPs provided greater attenuation than the bulk Bi2O3 at the same concentration. The percent increase in the MAC between the bulk and nano Bi2O3 was also calculated and analyzed. From the MAC values, the LAC of the glass was determined and similar results were found compared to the MAC figure. The HVL and MFP of the glass were then analyzed and the results demonstrated that the glass with Bi2O3 NPs attenuated the same amount of photons at a smaller thickness, making the NP shield more effective. The heaviness of the samples illustrated that all the tested samples have a smaller weight than pure lead, making them more desirable. The attenuation factor of the glass (Att. Factor %) showed that increasing the Bi2O3 content in the samples and increasing the thickness of the shields both improve the shielding capability of the glass. Lastly, the dlead of the glasses was determined, indicating that the greatest reduction in thickness occurs near the K-absorption edge of bismuth. Overall, the glass with 20% Bi2O3 NPs demonstrated to have the greatest potential for radiation shielding applications.

Tri-positive lanthanide ion (Eu3+) activated glasses doped with different concentrations of silver (Ag0) nanoparticles obtained using thermal reducing agent were fabricated by applying the method of melt quench. The formation of Ag0 nanoparticles in glasses was revealed by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak in the absorption spectra. Transmission electron microscopic measurements confirmed the presence of spherically shaped Ag0 nanoparticles of different size distribution. The absorption spectra showed a red–shift of the SPR peak with an increase in AgNO3 concentration occurring through Ostwald's ripening process because of the growth of particle size (as evidenced from microscope images). The non-linear optical (NLO) and optical limiting measurements were performed in the near infrared spectral region and femtosecond pulse excitation. The non-linear parameters were found to increase as the AgNO3 concentration increased to 0.6 mol %, however, the parameters subsequently decreased at higher doping level. The optical limiting threshold values demonstrated a reverse trend. The increase in non-linear optical properties regarding Ag nanoparticles concentration attributed to the enhancement of polarizabilities of glasses that occurred through local field stimulated by SPR of Ag nanoparticles when exposed to laser radiation of high energy. The increase in NLO coefficients (particularly the non-linear absorption coefficient) and the decrease in optical limiting threshold values with AgNO3 concentration (up to 0.6 mol %) indicated that these glasses containing 0.6 mol % AgNO3 are useful for the construction of the power optical limiters that function at the infrared region in the femtosecond pulse regime.

In this paper, the investigation of the Electron-Photon Interaction Cross Sections 2017 (EPICS2017) library on the shielding properties of several ceramics is presented. The EPICS2017 library was used to calculate the mass attenuation coefficients of different ceramic samples. The results from EPICS2017 were compared with values from several experimental and theoretical methods used in characterizing the photon shielding properties. The experimental mass attenuation coefficient values agreed well with the EPICS2017 evaluations, with relative differences ranging from 0.04–6.58%. The mass attenuation coefficient values derived using MCNP5 simulations agreed with EPICS2017 with a reasonable deviation. XCOM values for mass attenuation coefficients strongly agreed with EPICS2017. The obtained results dictate that EPICS2017 can be used to evaluate the MACs for ceramic systems for which no experimental values are available at various energies. From these findings, the EPICS2017 library can be an important alternative for the future photon shielding research and development of ceramic materials.

The primary aim of this investigation is to synthesize a novel glass system with a composition (35+x) PbO-5TeO2-20Bi2O3-(20-x) MgO-20B2O3 (where x=0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mol%) by melt quenching method. The confirmation of the amorphous behavior and the presence of the various vibration modes and stretching modes have been analyzed using the XRD and FTIR techniques, respectively. The radiation shielding parameters of these glasses were reported using MCNP5 simulation. The effects of PbO on the MCNP5 parameters were investigated in detail. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) was simulated via MCNP5 code, and it was found that the MAC values from MCNP5 all follow the same trend as the XCOM data. The similarity means that the two simulations strongly agree with each other. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) was calculated for all the glasses. The glass sample with 55 mol% of the PbO has the greatest LAC at any energy, such as 0.317 at 10 MeV, the lowest investigated energy. From the LAC values, other parameters such as transmission factor (TF), lead equivalent thickness (dlead), and half-value layer (HVL) were reported. The results for the TF of the glasses revealed that the glass systems become more effective as their thickness increases. Glass sample with 35 mol % of the PbO recorded the highest TF at all energies due to its lack of PbO content, such as 15.533% for a thickness of 1 cm and 6.122% for 1.5-cm thickness at 0.3 MeV. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) was also determined, and we found that the glasses with the greater PbO content and least MgO content have the highest RPE. Therefore, based on the RPE values, glasses with the greater PbO are the most effective radiation shield from the investigated glasses. © 2021, Australian Ceramic Society. This research was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University through the Fast-Track Research Funding Program.

Six borate and silica glasses with varying compositions were investigated for their mechanical and radiation shielding viability. Makishima-Mackenzie elastic model was utilized to study the elastic properties of the investigated glasses. The obtained results illustrated that PbO and Bi2O3 oxides reduced the glass samples' mechanical properties. For instance, the bulks' model decreased between 68.15 and 44.10 GPa, the shear model also followed the same trend and decreased from 31.95 to 23.33 GPa, reducing the PbO and Bi2O3 ratios in the studied glass samples. Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP-5) was utilized to evaluate the investigated glasses' shielding capacity. The obtained results depict that the highest linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) occurred at 0.356 MeV; it takes values 0.618, 1.024, 1.161, 1.271, 1.963, and 2.071 cm-1 for G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, and G6. Based on the simulated values of LAC, other shielding properties such as transmission rate (TR), radiation protection efficiency (RPE), half-value layer (HVL) were evaluated. The calculated results illustrated that the shielding properties enhanced with Bi2O3 and PbO insertion ratios. © 2021 The Author(s).

The role of Er3+ ions on the optical properties and radiation shielding features of (55-x)B2O3–10SiO2−25Gd2O3–10CaO−xEr2O3: (Er-glasses) with x = 0 (Er-0.0) to 2.5 (Er-2.5) mol% glasses was investigated. The Metallization criterion (Mcriterion) was found to vary from 0.5356 to 0.5346, while the static dielectric constant (estatic) varied from 2.7340 to 2.7406 for Er-0.0 to Er-2.5 glasses. The optical electronegativity (χ*) decreased from 0.9085 to 0.8440, the nonlinear refractive index ( n 2 o p t i c a l ) increased from 1.4075 × 10−12 to 1.4274 × 10−12 (esu), and the nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ3) increased from 6.1765 × 10−14 to 6.2714 × 10−14 (esu) with increasing Er2O3 from 0 to 2.5 mol%. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for the Er-glasses has been calculated via the Phy-X/PSD program. The highest MAC was found at 0.284 MeV, and was equal to 0.197 cm2/g for Er-0.0, 0.199 cm2/g for Er-0.5, 0.200 cm2/g for Er-1.0, 0.201 cm2/g for Er-1.5, 0.202 cm2/g for Er-2.0 and 0.204 cm2/g for Er-2.5. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) has the following order: (Er-2.5)LAC > (Er-2.0)LAC > (Er-1.5)LAC > (Er-1.0)LAC > (Er-0.5)LAC> (Er-0.0)LAC. The RPE for the Er-2.5 glass was found to increase from 35.06% (for x = 0.5 cm) to 82.20% (for x = 2 cm) at 0.284 MeV. At the selected energies, the transmission factor (TF) decreased with the addition of Er2O3. The half value layer (HVL) of the Er-0.0-Er2.5 samples tended to decrease with the increase in Er2O3 content. The tenth value layer (TVL) decreased from 2.919 to 2.667 cm at 0.284 MeV as the Er2O3 increases from 0 to 2.5 mol%, while at 0.511 MeV it decreased from 5.771 to 5.377 cm. The results revealed that the Er-glasses can be applied for optical and radiation shielding uses.

This work aims to report the radiation shielding ability of WO3–ZnO–PbO–B2O3 glasses and to understand the effect of WO3 on the shielding behavior of this glass system. Geant4 code was applied to calculate the mass attenuation coefficient between 0.1218 and 1.458 MeV. The Phys-X software was used to validate the simulation results. Decrease in the transmission factor (TF) for the selected glasses with an increase in the thickness of the glass from 0.2 to 1 cm has been noticed and discussed. The maximum TF for the glass with composition of 20PbO-80B2O3 occurred for 0.2 cm thickness and equals to 0.44 at 0.1218 MeV and 0.966 at 1.086 MeV. Whereas, the maximum TF for 10WO3-10ZnO-20PbO-60B2O3 sample with a thickness of 0.2 cm varied between 0.256 and 0.95. The TF results emphasize the fact that the sample's power to attenuate the photons becomes weaker with the increase in the energy of the photon. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) increases with the increase in the thickness of the glass and the amount of WO3. The replacement of 20 mol % of ZnO by 10 mol % of WO3 leads to the increase in the RPE from 8.83 to 12.03% at x = 0.4 cm, from 16.89 to 22.61% at x = 0.8 cm and from 20.64 to 27.42% at x = 1 cm. At 0.444 MeV, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) increases by 1.52 due to the increase in the density by 1.46, which indicated that if the density of the glass is doubled, the LAC almost doubles, and the WZPB7 glass with highest density attenuates more photons.

Studies of bioactive glasses give an advanced roadbook to realize radiation applications in nuclear medicine and other medical applications. This paper aims to investigate the gamma ray interaction parameters of the PbCl2–SnCl2–P2O5 glass system. The mass attenuation coefficients (μm) of the selected bioactive glasses have been obtained using XCOM and dosimetry Phy-X/PSD programs in the photon energy range 10–150 keV and also correlated with those simulated through MCNP5 code. The other parameters, such as the effective atomic number (Zeff), electron density (Ne), and mean free path (MFP), tenth-value layer (TVL), and half-value layer (HVL) values have also been computed. Among all the selected bioactive glasses, the S4 bioactive glass has the lowest MFP, HVL, and TVL, showing that it is highly effective in absorbing gamma rays. The values of MFP of all samples (S1–S8) are also compared to the RS 253G18 and RS 360 commercial glasses at energy 150 keV. The fast neutron removal cross-sections have been obtained to study the fast neutron absorption behavior with the selected bioactive glasses.

Herein, a traditional melt quenching method was utilized to synthesize glasses with a nominal chemical composition (80-x)TeO2-xB2O3–5ZnO–5Li2O3–10Bi2O3: 30≤ x ≤ 80 mol%). The produced sample was coded as TBBZL30 to TBBZL80. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has been employed to test the amorphous nature of the synthesized samples. In the range of 200–500 nm wavelength, UV–Vis spectra for the glasses have been performed. Optical energy gaps ( E g a p ) have been determined based on the absorption measurements. With the help of ( E g a p ), refractive index (n), molar polarizability (αM), metallization criterion (MCri.), molar refractivity (RM), static dielectric constant (eSta.), optical dielectric constant (eOpt.), reflection loss (RL) and optical transmission (TOpt.) have been calculated. For the fabricated boro-tellurite glasses, Phy-X/PSD was used to report some shielding factors for several energies between 15 keV and 15 MeV. The maximum attenuation for all samples took place at 15 keV and the mass attenuation coefficient varied between 52.309 and 57.084 cm2/g. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) results demonstrated that TBBZL80 has the highest attenuation than the rest of samples which is due to high content of TeO2 (containing 80 mol% of TeO2) whereas TBBZL30 has the lowest attenuation. The LAC for the fabricated samples varied between 230.160 and 351.064 cm-1 at 15 keV. The minimum effective atomic number (EAN) occurred between 0.8 and 4 MeV and varied between 15.16 and 17.35 for TBBZL30 and 25.10–28.33 for TBBZL80. The addition of TeO2 was found to enhance the EAN and improved shielding properties for the tested TBBZL glass systems.

This paper aims to study gamma and beta attenuation characteristics of newly developed 60Se- 20Ge (20 – x)-Sb-xAg (where x varies from 0 to 20 mol% with step of 5) Chalcogenide glasses. Geant4 toolkit was utilized mainly to explore gamma-ray attenuation properties by determining linear attenuation coefficient (μ) for the chosen samples. The obtained results were compared with the theoretical approach applying via XCOM program. Then, we utilized the μ values to compute effective atomic number (Zeff) and half value layer (HVL). For the sample coded as SGSA1, the μ values are 0.191 and 0.180 cm−1 between 3 and 4 MeV, while they are 0.175 and 0.197 cm−1 between 6 and 15 MeV respectively. The HVL varied between 0.001492 and 0.001317 cm at 0.015 MeV and 0.021955–0.021439 cm at 0.05 MeV. ESTAR program was employed to investigate beta attenuation properties by estimation CSDA range and TSP factors of the incident electron. It was noted that there is a significant influence of silver on the radiation shielding characteristics of the tested materials. Moreover, we compared the studied glasses with commercial glasses and traditional concrete in term of MFP. The results showed the possibility of use the studied materials for the radiation shielding applications.

Six glass samples with the composition of TeO2-Li2O-ZnO were analyzed for their radiation shielding properties. The radiation shielding factors for the lithium-zinc-tellurite glasses were reported using the Geant4 code and Phy-X/PSD program. The transmission factor (TF) was determined for different thicknesses and the results revealed that the TF decreases with increasing the thickness of the glass. For TeLiZ1, increasing the thickness of the sample from 0.4 cm to 1.6 cm led to decrease the transmission of the photon from 0.84 to 0.48 at 0.5 MeV and from 0.94 to 0.76 at 4 MeV. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) results showed that a thicker glass sample absorbs a higher number of photons, implying that lower radiation pass among the glass, increasing RPE. Also, the glass coded as TeLiZ6 has higher RPE than that of TeLiZ1 glass which suggests that at higher content of TeO2 (85 mol%), the more efficient the glass is at shielding the incoming photons. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) obtained by both methods (Geant4 and Phy-X/PSD showed a good agreement for all the glasses and at all investigated energies. The LAC indicates a strong energy dependence, especially at low energies. The LAC also increases as more TeO2 is added to the glasses. TeLiZ6 (85TeO2-15Li2O, ρ = 5.164 g/cm3) has the highest RPE and lowest TF, while TeLiZ1 (60TeO2-15Li2O-25ZnO, ρ = 4.976 g/cm3) has the lowest RPE and highest TF. The tenth value layer (TVL) was also determined and it was observed that TVL increases with increasing energy, reaching a maximum value at 10 MeV and varying between 12.919 and 13.808 cm. By contrast, the minimum TVL is reported at 15 keV and varies between 0.0106 and 0.0112 cm. The addition of TeO2 decreases the TVL, with TeLiZ6 having the least TVL.

This study aims to explore the effect of Bi2O3 and Yb2O3 on the structural and radiation shielding properties of BaTiO3 ceramic samples fabricated by solid-state reaction and high-energy ball milling techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra revealed that the current ceramic samples have a tetragonal phase. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) results showed a peak at 1435 cm−1 for all ceramics that attributed to Ba–Ti–O. Various physical properties like density, packing density, molar volume, and Poisson's ratio were calculated for the prepared ceramic samples. The highest concentration of Bi2O3 (C3) exhibited the highest density values (5.562 g/cm3), packing density (0.630), and Poisson's ratio (0.279), whereas the high concentration of Yb2O3 (C6) had a density of 4.731 g/cm3, a packing density of 0.529, and a Poisson's ratio of 0.237. In addition, different radiation shielding properties were determined by using the Phy-X program for all ceramic samples. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) values for C3 and C6 at 1 MeV were 0.065 and 0.062 cm2/g, respectively. Based on the calculated (μ/ρ), the C3 sample revealed a promising half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), and effective atomic number (Zeff). Regarding the neutron shielding properties, the effective removal cross-section (ΣR) values for C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 were 0.101, 0.098, 0.095, 0.089, 0.88 and 0.085 cm−1, respectively. In this regard, C1 showed the highest ΣR compared with the other prepared samples. In conclusion, C1 and C3 samples have superior neutron and photon shielding features compared with the other prepared ceramics. In light of these obtained results, the fabricated ceramics can be concluded to be very helpful for photon and neutron shielding applications.

Geant4 simulation was used to study the radiation shielding properties of TeO2–V2O5–Bi2O3 glass systems. The lowest mass attenuation factor occurred at 2.506 MeV (varied between 0.0383 and 0.0394 cm2 g-1) and the highest mass attenuation factor occurred at 0.284 MeV (between 0.1538 and 0.2183 cm2 g-1). The results revealed that the shielding parameters highly depended on the amount of Bi2O3, and the transmission factor (TF) decreased as Bi2O3 increased from 5 to 25 w. t%. The TF values at 0.284 MeV for a thickness of 1 cm of the TeVBi5, TeVBi10, TeVBi15, TeVBi20 and TeVBi25 glasses were 51%, 44%, 38%, 32% and 27% respectively. From the half value layer results, TeVBi5 had the highest HVL and hence the worst shielding. The best attenuation was reported for TeVBi25, which had the highest content of Bi2O3 and the highest density (ρ = 6.031 g/cm3). Also, from the HVL results, a small thickness of any sample can provide adequate protection for photons with low energy (i.e. 0.284, 0.347 and 0.511 MeV), whereas a thicker width is needed to provide protection from photons with energies larger than 0.826 MeV. The results showed that there was an increase in the tenth value layer for all of the TeVBi5–TeVBi25 glasses as the energy of the photons increased. At 0.284 MeV, the TVL for the samples with 5 and 25 w. t% of Bi2O3 are 3.4174 and 1.7470 cm. The TVL results confirmed that the shielding performance of the tested samples was enhanced when the Bi2O3 content increased from 5 to 25 w. t %.

In this study, the fast neutron and gamma-ray absorption capacities of the new glasses have been investigated, which are obtained by doping CoO,CdWO4,Bi2O3, Cr2O3, ZnO, LiF,B2O3 and PbO compounds to SiO2 based glasses. GEANT4 and FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation codes have been used in the planning of the samples. The glasses were produced using a well-known melt-quenching technique. The effective neutron removal cross-sections, mean free paths, half-value layer, and transmission numbers of the fabricated glasses have been calculated through both GEANT4 and FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation codes. Experimental neutron absorbed dose measurements have been carried out. It was found that GS4 glass has the best neutron protection capacity among the produced glasses. In addition to neutron shielding properties, the gamma-ray attenuation capacities, were calculated using newly developed Phy-X/PSD software. The gamma-ray shielding properties of GS1 and GS2 are found to be equivalent to Pb-based glass.

In the present investigation, mass attenuation coefficients ( μ m ) and some related nuclear shielding quantities of various granite samples have been computed at several photon energies of 0.356, ...

A sequence of Sm3+-incorporated calcium telluro-fluoroborate glasses by changing the modifier oxide was prepared via the melt-quenching method. The physical, structural, and gamma radiation shielding properties are investigated. XRD spectra confirmed the glassy state. The glasses’ compactness was explored via the structural features like the boron-boron separation, oxygen molar volume, and oxygen packing density. Mechanical and optical properties such as Poisson’s ratio, optical electronegativity, optical basicity, two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient, and ionic and covalent characters were evaluated and discussed per modifier concentration. The photon attenuation attributes of the glasses were computed by means of the MCNP-5 code. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) was simulated in the energy region of 0.015–15 MeV. The highest MAC achieved at gamma energy 0.015 MeV increased from 25.004 to 33.165 cm2g−1 with increasing the CaO ratios between 0 and 40 wt%. Besides, several attenuation factors, such as the mean free path and the radiation protection efficiency, were evaluated connected with the MAC’s simulated values. The study showed that the fabricated glasses’ radiation protection efficiency at 0.5 MeV increased from 33.39 to 39.31, increasing the CaO content from 0 to 40 mol%.

A series of Dy3+ doped zinc-aluminoborosilicate glasses with chemical composition 30SiO2-(30-x) B2O3–10Al2O3–15NaF–15ZnF2-xDy2O3 (x = 0, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0 and 1.5 mol %) were prepared by conventional melt-quenching method. Structural and optical properties of the glasses were analyzed through XRD, FTIR, UV–Visible–NIR and luminescence studies. Gamma radiation shielding parameters were obtained using PSD software. Nephelauxetic ratio (β) and bonding parameters (δ) calculated using absorption spectrum shows the decreasing ionic nature of the Dy ions. Judd-Oflet parameters (Ω2, Ω4 and Ω6) obtained shows the covalency and asymmetric nature of dysprosium ions. The luminescence properties shows that Dy3+ doped glasses have two strong intense emission at blue (482 nm) and yellow (575 nm) region. Branching ratio and stimulated emission cross section calculated suggests the glasses suitability to act as lasing material. CIE colour coordinates and its colour correlated temperature (CCT) for the glasses were estimated and found that these prepared glasses lie in the warm white light region.

The influence of Ag2O on the linear and nonlinear optical parameters of ternary silver vanadio-tellurite glasses, with a chemical formula of 40TeO2-(60-y)V2O5-yAg2O where y = 0–50 mol% in increments of 10 mol%, was investigated. The effect of Ag2O on the gamma-ray shielding properties of the investigated glasses was evaluated utilizing the recently released Phy-X/PSD program. The results revealed that the linear optical refractive index varied between 2.47 and 2.66 for the studied glasses. The molar polarizability (αmolar) decreased from 14.125 × 10−24 to 9.634 × 10−24 cm3, while the molar refractivity (Rmolar) varied from 35.596 to 24.279 (cm3/mol) as the Ag2O concentration increased from 0 to 40 mol%. The metallization criterion (Mcriterion) varied from 0.246 to 0.280, while the optical transmission factor (Toptical) increased from 0.656 to 0.694. The static dielectric constant (estatic) changed from 6.624 to 7.128, while optical electronegativity (χ*) increased from 0.580 to 0.731. The nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ3) varied from 6.923 × 10−12 to 9.637 × 10−12 esu, while the non-linear refractive index changed from 0.722 × 10−10 to 1.360 × 10−10 esu. The T40V60A0 glass sample (with no Ag2O) has the lowest μ/ρ and can shield 50.3% of the photons at an energy of 0.284 MeV, while T40V10A50 has the highest μ/ρ and can shield 78.5% of a beam of photons with the same energy. The MFP at 0.284 MeV has the following values: 2.145, 1.811, 1.470, 1.308, 1.130 and 0.975 cm for T40V60A0, T40V50A10, T40V40A20, T40V30A30, T40V20A40 and T40V10A50 glasses respectively. Altogether, the results demonstrated that the greater the Ag2O content in the glasses, the lower the TF, and thus the more effective the radiation shield. The investigated glasses have a great possibility of being applied in several optical applications.

This paper reports the effect of bismuth oxide (up to 65 mol%) on the optical properties and radiation shielding efficiency of xBi2O3-(65-x)Li2O-20ZnO- 15B2O3 glasses (where x = 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65 mol%). The optical properties of these glasses were examined by evaluating different parameters such as molar refraction (Rm), metallization principle (M), molar polarizability (αm), dielectric coefficients (static and optical), optical transmission (T), and reflection loss (RL). On the other hand, the radiation shielding efficiency of the tested glasses was estimated by using Geant4 simulations and the Phy-X/PSD program for varied photons energies. The linear attenuation coefficient (μ) and other related factors such as half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Zeff), and mean free path (MFP) were calculated over a wide energy range from 15 keV to 15 MeV. The results revealed that the optical dielectric constant of the glasses increased from 3.1469 to 3.2076 as the Bi2O3 increased from 45 to 65 mol%. A notable increase in μ values was observed as the Bi2O3 increased from 45 to 65 mol%. The photon shielding properties of the tested glasses were compared with many samples in terms of MFP. The present glasses showed superior features to apply for optical and radiation shielding applications.

The radiation shielding capacity of 80B2O3–(20-x) Na2O–x CdO (where x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 mol%) cadmium-doped sodium borate glasses was evaluated. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of the studied glasses was simulated using the Monte Carlo simulation code (MCNP-5) for gamma photons with energy between 0.01 and 15 MeV. Other pivotal gamma ray shielding parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Zeff), and buildup factors (EBF and EABF) for the selected cadmium-doped sodium borate glasses were examined. The achieved data showed that, BNC 8 glass with CdO contents of 14 mol % possesses the highest LAC and varied between 0.0650 and 83.636 cm-1 and also it has thinner HVL than other BNC glasses and varied between 0.008 and 10.686 cm for gamma ray energy between 0.01 and 15 MeV. Moreover, the removal cross sections of fast neutrons (ΣR) were also calculated theoretically for the selected cadmium-doped sodium borate glasses. The obtained data shows that the insertion of CdO appears to enhance gamma ray and neutron shielding capacity. BNC8 with CdO content (14 mol%) was found to possess the best shielding parameters among the studied cadmium-doped sodium borate glasses.

The influence of BaO on the optical characteristics and nuclear radiation shielding properties for 60B2O3-(40-x)Li2O-xBaO: x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mol% glasses was investigated. Various optical parameters such as optical transmission and reflection loss (TOptical, RLoss), molar refraction and molar polarizability (RMolar, αMolar), optical and static dielectric coefficients and metallization criterion (eOptical, eStatic, MCriterion), and metallization property according to refractive index and optical energy gap (M(nLinear), M(EOptical)), were determined. The results confirmed that RMolar changes directly with αMolar, while TOptical changes inversely with RLoss. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) was investigated using WinXCOM software and the results showed that all the S1–S5 glasses have good attenuation ability at 284 keV due to their high mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ). The highest and lowest values of μ/ρ occurred at 284 keV and 1.33 MeV respectively and varied between 0.1055 and 0.1361 cm2/g and 0.0526–0.0534 cm2/g. The linear attenuation coefficient (μ) increased with the gradual addition of BaO from glass S1→S5. The results showed that the effective atomic number (Zeff) for S1 is almost constant, while S5 possessed the highest Zeff values. The half value layer (HVL) was estimated and the effect of BaO on this parameter was analyzed. At 284 keV, the HVL values were 2.8192, 2.3847, 2.1597, 1.9687 and 1.8936 cm for S1–S5 glasses respectively. The S5 sample possessed the least HVL, and accordingly, had better attenuation capabilities than the S1–S4 samples. Therefore, lithium borate glasses with high concentration of BaO can be applied in several optical and medical applications.

Six specimens of tellurite glass doped with rare earth with a nominal chemical composition 65TeO2–25Na2O-(10-x)NdCl3-xSm2O3: 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 2.5 mol% were fabricated. The fabrication process was conventional melt quenching. The glasses were coded as TNNS0.0 to TNNS2.5 corresponding to their x value. The glasses' non-crystalline properties were measured using X-ray diffraction. The glasses' UV–Vis data in a 300–1100 nm wavelength were calculated. Using absorption measurements, the optical energy band gap ( E Optical ) was assessed. The index of refraction (n), polarizability (αmolar), metallization criterion (Mcriterion), molar refractivity (Rmolar), static and optical dielectric constants (estatic and eoptical), reflection loss (Rloss), and optical transmission (Toptical) were calculated. Results revealed that the indirect optical energy band gap ( E I n d i r e c t O p t i c a l ) changed from 2.94 to 2.80 eV, while the direct one ( E D i r e c t O p t i c a l ) changed from 3.06 to 3.00 eV for TNNS0.0 to TNNS2.5 glasses. Refractive index varied between 2.413 and 2.453. The static dielectric constant changed from 5.824 to 6.017. To inspect the glasses’ radiation shielding characteristics, we simulated their mass attenuation coefficients (MAC) between 0.284 and 1.33 MeV using Geant4 code simulation and Phy-X/PSD software. There was good agreement between the Geant4 and Phy-X/PSD results. The linear attenuation coefficient (μ) values decreased exponentially as the energy increased, ranging from 0.229 to 0.697 cm−1 for TNNS0.0 and 0.256–0.787 cm−1 for TNNS2.5. The addition of samarium oxide (Sm2O3) increased the μ values at all of the energies investigated. The effective atomic number (Zeff) results demonstrated higher photon interactions, possibility due to the increasing Sm2O3 content. The minimum half value layer (HVL) occurred at 0.284 MeV and was 0.881 cm for TNNS2.5and 0.994 cm for TNNS0.0. The tenth value layer (TVL) decreased as the Sm2O3 concentrations increased and increased as the energy increased. TNNS2.5 had the lowest TVL of 2.927 cm at 0.284 MeV and 6.022 cm at 0.662 MeV.

The gamma-ray shielding properties for the xPbO‧50B2O3‧(50-x)V2O5 glass systems (where x varied between 20 and 49 mol%) were investigated. The photon attenuation factors were determined using Phy-X/PSD software to evaluate the influence of PbO on the radiation shielding ability of the glass. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) increased with the addition of PbO. We discussed the effects of photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production on the MAC values at different energy regions. The highest half value layer (HVL) for the investigated borovanadate glasses was reported at 284 keV and lie within the range of 0.5067 and 0.931 cm. The sample containing the highest content of PbO (49 mol%) had the lowest HVL, which indicates that it is the most effective radiation shield among the tested borovanadate glasses. The tenth value layer (TVL) results revealed that the shielding ability for the borovanadate glasses improved when the percentage of PbO increased from 20 to 49 mol%. The least TVL values of the samples with 20 and 49 mol% of PbO were 1.682 cm at 284 keV and 2.432 cm at 347 keV.

The radiation shielding properties of xPbO-(100-x)TeO2, x = 10, 20, and 30 mol% binary glasses and y[ZnO]-(100-y)[70(TeO2)-30(PbO)] y = 15, 20, and 25 mol% ternary glasses were investigated using Geant4 simulations and the newly developed Phy-X/PSD program. The glasses’ gamma shielding abilities were assessed using their mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), and half value layer (HVL) values. The neutron shielding ability was evaluated by determining the removal cross-section (RCS) values, which were 0.097, 0.101, and 0.103 cm-1 for binary PbO-TeO2 (PT) glasses and 0.118, 0.116, and 0.114 cm-1 for ternary ZnO-PbO-TeO2 (PTZ) glasses. The gamma and neutron shielding features of the glasses were compared with those of various ordinary concretes and Pb-free, Pb-based, and commercial glasses. The addition of PbO changed the gamma and neutron properties of the PT glasses, while the addition of ZnO demonstrated a different trend in the gamma properties of the PTZ glass system.

A set of glasses with the composition 29.5B2O3+30TeO2+20MF2+20MO +0.5Dy2O3 (where M = Zn2+, Cd2+, Sr2+, Ba2+ and Pb2+) has been synthesized using a melt quenching technique. The physical and structural properties have been calculated to find out the ability of the glasses to withstand radiation. The optical properties such as optical band gap and Urbach energies of the synthesized glasses have been estimated and were determined to possess minimum defects. MCNP-5 code was applied to evaluate the photon shielding capability of the synthesized glasses. The highest mass attenuation parameter of the sample, 29.5B2O3+30TeO2+20PbF2+20PbO +0.5Dy2O3 (coded as BTD-Pb) varied between 0.202 and 0.040 cm2/g. In addition, the mean free path (MFP) for the prepared glasses has been calculated and observed that the BTD-Pb glass had the lowest MFP, varying between 0.891 and 4.466 cm. Based on the radiation shielding parameters, the BTD-Pb glass sample has the best attenuation ability against gamma rays.

In this paper, the radiation shielding properties of chalcogenide glass-ceramics with the chemical composition of xCsCl-(100−x)(0.5GeS2-0.5Sb2S3), where 0 ≤ x ≤ 40 mol%, were investigated by using Geant4 simulations, G-P method, and Phy-X/PSD program. Mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), half value layer (HVL), removal cross section (RCS), exposure buildup factor (EBF), mean free path (MFP), and effective atomic number (Zeff) were evaluated to elucidate the radiation shielding competence of the present chalcogenide glass-ceramics. A good agreement was noted between the μ/ρ values of Geant4 simulations and theoretical calculations. At 15 MeV, we found that the HVL values raised from 5.276 cm to 5.728 cm as the concentration of CsCl increased from 0 to 40 mol%. Maximum Zeq values occurred at 1 MeV and were 42.20, 42.98, 43.76, 44.57, and 45.40 for GSC-A, GSC-B, GSC-C, GSC-D, and GSC-E, respectively. The results revealed that the chalcogenide glass-ceramics have radiation shielding properties superior to those of commercial glasses, and traditional concrete.

Transparent 10BaO-20ZnO-20LiF-(50-x) B2O3-xEr2O3 glasses with x = 0, 0.1, 0.5, 0.7 and 1 mol % were synthesized using melt-quench method. Their amorphous nature was confirmed from X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The glasses were irradiated with 3 kGy gamma dose, among which the sample with 0.7 mol % Er2O3 doping showed the highest integrated thermoluminescence (TL) intensity. The dose-response was evaluated by irradiating the sample with 0.25- 30 kGy gamma doses. The highest integrated TL intensity was obtained at 3 kGy dose. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of the 0.7 mol % Er2O3 doped glass after 3 kGy gamma irradiation predicted the creation of new bonds and rise in the Non-Bridging Oxygens. UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectra recorded after 3 kGy gamma irradiation accounted for the formation of color centers due to an increase in the total absorption of the glass, a decrease in the bandgap and an increase in the Urbach energy. The sample exhibited good linearity in the 0.25 to 3 kGy range with high sensitivity of 27021 counts g-1kGy-1 and a minimum detectable dose of 0.201 kGy. TL signal faded by just 4% after a week of storage. The annealing condition for reusability and the effective atomic number of the glass were examined. Trap parameters like activation energy, frequency factor and lifetime, determined using Computerized Glow Curve Deconvolution (CGCD) and Chen's peak shape methods supported the low fading of the sample. Overall, the remarkable TL dosimetry characteristics present the usefulness of the titled glass system in radiation processing of food products and high-dose (0.25 to 3 kGy) gamma environment.

This paper focuses on the evaluation of the radiation attenuation properties of 15CaF2-10CaO-5B2O3-(65-x)P2O5-xNiO-5BaO (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0 mol%) bioactive glasses. The radiation attenuation features of these glasses were investigated by determining different factors including mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), exposure and absorption buildup factors (EBF and EABF), neutron removal cross section (NRCS), and effective atomic number (Zeff) for photon, proton, and carbon ion interactions. Geant4 toolkit and Phy-X program were employed for simulations and calculations procedures. The results revealed that NiO content in the studied bioactive glasses has a significant effect on photon interaction and an insignificant effect on the charged particle interactions. The Zeff values of the studied glasses were observed in the range of 18–20 for photon interaction, 10.7–10.9 for proton interaction, and 10.0–10.7 for carbon ion interaction. The NRCS values were 0.087, 0.088, 0.089, 0.090, and 0.091 cm-1 for x = 0, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 mol%, respectively. The studied bioactive glasses showed a good ability to attenuate gamma radiation at energies of medical applications.

This paper focuses on the effect of Bi2O3 content (up to 80 mol%) on mechanical features and radiation shielding characteristics of boro-tellurite glasses within TeO2–B2O3–Bi2O3 system. The basic mechanical parameters such as oxygen molar volume, packing density, hardness, and elastic moduli were studied based on Makishima–Mackenzie's theory. The shielding studies of the TeO2–B2O3–Bi2O3 glasses included gamma, electron and neutron radiations. The newly developed Phy-X/PSD program and Geant4 simulation were used to calculate the shielding parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), tenth value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), stopping power (ψe)), removal cross section (RCS), CSDA range, effective atomic number (Zeff), and half value layer (HVL). The concentration of Bi2O3 content had a significant effect on the gamma shielding competence of the investigated glasses. Form the results of gamma shielding studies, the highest μ/ρ (99.845 cm2/g) occurred at 0.015 MeV for TBB80 and the lowest μ/ρ (0.039 m2/g) occurred at 4 MeV for TBB40. The maximum values of Zeff for gamma interaction occurred at 0.02 MeV and they were 77.26, 78.81, 79.94, 80.80, and 81.48 for TBB40, TBB50, TBB50, TBB60, TBB70, and TBB80, respectively. The gamma shielding features of the investigated glasses were compared with those of various ordinary concretes, and Pb-free, Pb-based, and commercial glasses. The Bi2O3 content had also a considerable influence on the electron shielding competence of the tested glasses. The maximum values of Zeff for electron interaction occurred at 14 MeV and they were 44.58, 47.72, 50.41, 52.75, and 53.73 for TBB40, TBB50, TBB50, TBB60, TBB70, and TBB80, respectively. The results revealed that the bismuth boro-tellurite glasses could be useful for the shielding against gamma, electron, and neutron radiations, wherein the Bi2O3 content can be balanced according to the type and energy of radiation.

Bioactive glasses are used in many tissue engineering and dentistry applications. The unique properties of these glasses make them promising candidates for many potential applications. In this study, a novel bioactive glass system with the structure of 46P2O5–22Na2O-(24-x) CaO–8ZnO-xTiO2 with x in a range of 0–1 mol% (in steps of 0.2) was assessed for use in radiation protection applications. The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) of the investigated bioactive glasses were estimated using Geant4 simulation at extended energies of 0.015 MeV–15 MeV. The μ/ρ values were confirmed using theoretical calculations based on XCOM software. The half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Zeff), and mean free path (MFP) of the bioactive glasses were computed. The energy absorption and exposure buildup factors (EABF and EBF) were assessed using the G-P method at photon energies of 0.015–15 MeV. The removal cross-section (∑R) of the glasses was estimated. The addition of TiO2 in the bioactive glasses changed the glasses’ radiation protection properties. At 1 MeV, the Zeff values raised from 10.75 for T0 glass to 12.17 for T1 glass. The parameters of the present glasses were observed in the same range as materials used for gamma ray and neutron shielding.

In this paper, the role of TeO2 in radiation attenuating characteristics of xTeO2 -10CaF2-(60–0.6x) B2O3 -(30–0.4x) CaO glass system with x = 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 wt% was investigated. The gamma radiation studies were carried out by utilizing Geant4 simulations and the newly developed Phy-X/PSD program. The gamma-shielding characteristics of the present glass samples were examined in terms of mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), and some other related factors such as the effective atomic number (Zeff), and mean free path (MFP). The electron radiation-shielding characteristics were tested by determining the stopping power (ψe) and CSDA range for each glass specimen. The neutron radiation-shielding characteristics were explored by evaluating the removal cross section (RCS) for the tested glasses. Moreover, the G-P method was employed to investigate the exposure buildup factor (EBF) for photon energies up to 15 MeV. The results showed that the TeO2 content had a significant influence on the shielding ability of the investigated glasses against gamma and neutron radiations. In contrast, the TeO2 content had an insignificant influence on the electron radiation-shielding capacity of the glasses involved. Additionally, the nuclear-shielding properties of the studied samples were compared with those of standard nuclear radiation shields. It can be concluded that the present calcium boro-tellurite glasses have a promising future to be used as a shielding material against gamma, electron and neutron radiation, wherein the TeO2 concentration can be balanced according to the desired application.

Phy-X/PSD software was applied to understand the gamma photon shielding characteristics of SeO2–Ag2O–TeO2 glass systems. The highest attenuation coefficients occurred at 15 keV (between 39.576 and 48.978 cm2/g) and the lowest at 15 MeV (between 0.0369 and 0.0392 cm2/g). The results showed that the attenuation factors highly depended on the concentration of TeO2, and μ/ρ increased as TeO2 changed from 28 to 70 mol%. The maximum effective atomic number values were between 15 keV and 0.08 MeV and the values at 0.04 MeV were 45.81, 46.55, 47.23, 47.84, 48.91, and 49.38 for SeAgTe1, SeAgTe2, SeAgTe3, SeAgTe4, SeAgTe5, and SeAgTe6, respectively. From the half value thickness results, the SeAgTe6 had the lowest HVT, and thus the best attenuation. The worst attenuation was found for the SeAgTe1, which had the least amount of TeO2 and the lowest density (ρ = 5.66 g cm-3). The results also revealed that there was a rapid increase in the tenth value layer (TVL) for all of the glasses up to 1 MeV as the energy increased, and then the TVL increased at a slower rate. The TVL also confirmed that the attenuation competence of the glasses increased when the TeO2 content increased from 28 mol% to 70 mol%. The attenuation of the SeAgTe1–SeAgTe6 glasses was much better than that of ilmenite, steel-magnetite concrete, and RS-360 glass, since these glasses had lower mean free paths, whereas the attenuation properties of the RS-520 glass were comparable to the SeAgTe3.

In this work, with the help of Phy-X/PSD software, we studied the radiation shielding characteristics of 25Sb2O3–30PbO–(45−y) B2O3–yGd2O3 glasses (with y = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 mol%). The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) shows a progressive reduction with increase of energy, which denotes that the shielding efficiency of the PbSbBGd0- PbSbBGd1 glasses reduces when the energy was increased. The μ/ρ at 284 keV takes the values between 0.25988 and 0.26022 cm2/g and reduces to 0.18658 cm2/g (for PbSbBGd0) and 0.18673 (for PbSbBGd1) cm2/g at 347 keV. In addition, reasonable elevation in the linear attenuation factor (μ) values was observed with the addition of Gd2O3. This implies that, an improvement in the gamma rays shielding characteristics has occurred with the addition of Gd2O3. PbSbBGd1 sample had the largest μ values compared to all other glasses and equal to 1.418, 1.018, 0.401, 0.297 and 0.220 cm-1 at 284, 347, 826, 1275 and 2506 keV respectively. The results show that the replacement of B2O3 by Gd2O3 increases the effective atomic number (Zeff) for the PbO–Sb2O3–B2O3–Gd2O3 glass system and the Zeff of PbSbBGd1 is higher than that of PbSbBGd0- PbSbBGd0.8 samples, whereas that of PbSbBGd0 is the lowest. The mean free path (MFP) shows strong energy dependence and becomes larger at higher energies. The MFP shows gradual decrease, as the content of Gd2O3 was increased at the expense of B2O3 which implies that radiation attenuation features for the PbSbBGd0- PbSbBGd1 specimen have improved with more amount of Gd2O3. The least half value layer (HVL) is found at 284 keV for all concentrations of Gd2O3 and equals to 0.537 cm (for PbSbBGd0) and 0.489 cm (for PbSbBGd1). While, the highest HVL is registered at 2506 keV and equals to 3.456 cm for PbSbBGd0 and 3.152 cm for PbSbBGd1.

The present work deals with the detailed investigations on the radiation shielding features of TeO2–B2O3–Bi2O3–LiF–SrCl2 glass system. The recent software namely Phy-X/PSD has been used to report the change in the photons attenuation features of this glass system with increasing the content of TeO2 from 25 to 85 mol% between 347 keV and 2506 keV. The results show that replacing B2O3 with TeO2 causes the increase in the density of the glass from 3.66 to 5.91 g cm−3 which lead to increase the linear attenuation factor (μ). The μ has a direct relationship with energy and has a highly large value at 0.347 MeV (between 0.550 and 0.896 cm−1). The maximum effective atomic number occurs at 0.347 MeV and equals to 17.75, 19.78, 21.94, 24.24, 26.68, 29.29 and 32.07 for the TeBBiLS1- TeBBiLS7 samples. Thereafter, Zeff decreases quickly down to 0.826 MeV, and becomes almost constant between 1.173 and 1.333 MeV and very slightly increases at 2.506 MeV. The tenth value layer results imply that increasing the weight percentage of TeO2 in the glasses from 25 to 85 mol% can reduce the thickness needed to attenuate or block the photons. TeBBiLS1 has the maximum half value layer (HVL) and was found to be in the range of 3.034–4.823 cm and TeBBiLS7 sample has the lowest HVL. Also, the results revealed that as the density increased, the mean free path (MFP) gradually decreased, and the attenuation ability improves.

Herein we prepared five glass samples from the composition xLa2O3-(100-x)B2O3 (where x = 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mol%) and reported the physical, optical and gamma radiation shielding characteristics. The density of glass samples was increased from 3.1531 to 3.9443 g/cm3 with the addition of La2O3, while the molar volume is in the range of 34.2679–40.3849 cm3/mol. The refractive index of the glass samples is in the range of 1.6524–1.6541 with addition of La2O3 concentration. The optical band gap energy is found to be in the range of 3.08–3.14 eV. The transmission spectra for the La2O3 doped borate glasses in the wavelength range 200–2200 nm were reported and the results showed good transparency in visible region. This indicates that the prepared glasses are specifically showing superior transparency to visible light. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) was simulated using MCNP code and the simulated data were compared with WinXcom data. The radiation shielding results showed that the different concentrations of La2O3 for the La2O3–B2O3 glass system have affected the μ/ρ of the glasses. Moreover, the sample with 35 mol% of La2O3 has higher μ/ρ compared with the rest of specimens especially at 0.347 MeV. The effective atomic number (Zeff) was also calculated and the highest Zeff values at all selected energies were for the sample with 35 mol% of La2O3, whereas the lowest Zeff were for the sample corresponding to 15 mol% of La2O3, which was 18.86 and 12.31 at 0.347 MeV respectively. The mean free path at 0.347 MeV and 0.511 MeV is very low for 35 mol% of La2O3 (1.88 and 2.70 cm respectively), which indicates that the sample with composition 35La2O3–65B2O3 can be used as effective and transparent photon shieling materials at low energy.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of increasing Bi2O3 mol% on the radiation shielding parameters of tellurite glass system with the formula Bi2O3–Na2O– V2O5– TiO2–TeO2 by using Phy-X/PSD computer software between 15 keV and 10 MeV. The results showed that the attenuation factor is very large at 15 keV. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) at 15 keV lies within the range of 55.96–67.03 cm2/g for the selected samples. The μ/ρ for the investigated samples at 10 MeV is in the range of 0.0365–0.0392 cm2/g. The results also revealed that the addition of Bi2O3 enhances the effective atomic number (Zeff) and the sample corresponding to the lowest and highest amount of Bi2O3 (coded as TeBTi1 and TeBTi6) has the lowest and highest Zeff. Moreover, Zeff has high values between 15 keV and 0.1 MeV and the maximum Zeff occurs at 0.1 MeV (equal to 61.01, 62.67, 64.10, 65.34, 66.44 and 67.41 for TeBTi1– TeBTi6 samples respectively). The half value layer (HVL) increased when the energy changes from 15 keV to 10 MeV and the lowest HVL occurs at 15 keV for the sample coded as TeBTi6 and equal to 0.0025 cm, while the HVL at this energy for TeBTi1 is 0.0056 cm. Also, we calculated the tenth value layer (TVL) for the present system and we found that TVL reduces with the increment of Bi2O3 content, and the sample corresponding to 22 and 0 mol% of Bi2O3 and TiO2 respectively namely TeBTi6 possesses the lowest value of TVL, thus has the best radiation attenuation performance in comparison to other selected glasses. Also, we evaluated the effective removal cross-sections of fast neutrons (∑R) for the investigated glass system and we found that the ∑R values increase with increase the concentration of Bi2O3.

Bioactive glass-ceramic is a promising candidate for medical implants. The impact of Si3N4 doping on the photon attenuation properties of a newly designed bioactive glass system with the chemical composition of (55–3×)SiO2 –13.5CaO–29Na2O–2.5P2O5–xSi3N4, where x = 0, 1.76, 3.56, 5.35, and 7.17 mol%, is studied. Mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) of these samples is calculated by Geant4 toolkit at photon energies ranging from 0.015 MeV up to radiotherapy energy limit namely: 10 MeV. The generated data of μ/ρ are verified using the calculated values of XCOM software. Half value layer (HVL), electron density (Neff), and effective atomic number (Zeff) are obtained for each bioactive glass involved. It is noted that HVL of these bioactive glasses increases by increasing Si3N4 content. Consequently, GP4 bioactive glass possesses the highest HVL values among the studied samples. The photon attenuation properties of GP4 glass are compared with different types of bioactive glasses and commercial glasses in terms of mean free path (MFP). Moreover, exposure and energy absorption buildup factors (EBF and EABF) are calculated for the GP4 bioactive glass at different penetration depths such as 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 mfp. Additionally, removal cross section (∑R) of the present bioactive glasses is calculated. It can be concluded that GP bioactive glasses have equivalent photon attenuation properties to those of the standard bioactive glasses. Therefore, they can be safely used as an international alternative in various applications even if the exposure to gamma-ray is possible.

(90-x)GeO2-xPbO-5Al2O3–5CaO: 0 ≤ x ≤ 40 mol%) glasses have been fabricated by conventional melt quenching technique and coded as GACPb00 to GACPb40. The structure of the prepared glasses has been examined using X-ray diffraction measurements. The UV–vis spectra in the range of 190–1100 nm wavelength for the proposed glasses have been recorded. Based on the absorption spectra, the band gap of optical energy ( E g a p ) has been evaluated using the direct method and absorption spectrum fitting (ASF) model. Index of refraction (n), molar polarizability (αMolar), molar refractivity (RMolar), metallization criterion (MCriterion), dielectric constants (eStatic and eOptical), optical transmission (TOptical), reflection loss (RLoss) have been evaluated. WinXcom program was applied to study the photons shielding behavior of the present samples. The mass attenuation coefficient of the samples increases with the increase of PbO content at all energies. However, this increase is more notable at low energies. The current samples have relatively high effective atomic number (Zeff) at low energy due to the photoelectric phenomenon. The Zeff for GACPb00 and GACPb40 at 0.356 MeV is 16.02 and 30.76 respectively, and at 0.662 MeV these values are 15.58 and 23.71. The results also revealed that the density of the samples plays a very important rule of the half value thickness (HVT), and as well the thickness of the samples that are used to block or attenuate the photons. Interestingly, we found that GACPb40 has the biggest μ/ρ and lowest HVT which implies that this sample has superior photon attenuation capability.

X-ray photons attenuation characteristics for the two tellarite based glasses Bi2O3– B2O3– TeO2– TiO2 and PbO–ZnO–TeO2–B2O3 have been investigated at dental diagnostic energies (between 30-80 keV) using Geant4 code and WinXcom software. The correlation coefficient (R2) is utilized to evaluate the extent to which Geant4 results are related to the WinXcom data. For the both series, R2 is close to 1 for all samples and this implies a perfect degree of association between the Geant4 and WinXcom data. The linear attenuation coefficient is proportionally increased with addition of TeO2 in both series, which implies that there is a decreasing tendency in the X-ray photon transmission corresponding with an increase in the TeO2 content in the glasses. The half value layer (HVL) decreases as the density increases and this decreasing is very notable at 70 and 80 keV. The maximum HVL for all samples occurs at 80 keV and this implies that the HVL gradually increases as the energy of the X-ray photons increase. Also, the increment of TO2 in the glasses (in both systems) leads to reduce the mean free path and BiTeTi6 and PbTeB6 samples have the lowest MFP. The MFP for both systems was compared with three heavy concretes and the comparison revealed that the selected systems can be utilized to fabricate protection masks used during diagnostic radiation of the head or oral cavity.

In this work, some marble types were collected from Egypt, and their shielding characteristics were estimated. Their rigidity, in addition to their elegant shape, led us to consider their use as a protective shield, in addition to making the workplace more beautiful. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) was calculated for three types of marble (Breshia, Galala, and Trista) experimentally, using a narrow gamma ray source and high pure germanium (HPGe). The results obtained were compared with the XCOM program and indicated a very good agreement between the two methods. The linear attenuation coefficient (μ) was evaluated to calculate the half and tenth value layers. The maximum μ value of 1.055, 1.041, and 1.024 cm−1 was obtained for Breshia, Galala, and Trista, respectively, at 0.06 MeV. The mean free path for studying the materials was compared with other shielding materials and showed good results at different energy scales. The energy absorption (EABF) and exposure buildup factors (EBF) were determined at different mean free paths. The fast neutron removal cross section ΣR was calculated and expresses the ability of the marbles to slow down fast neutrons through multiple scattering. This is the ability of the marbles to shield fast neutrons.

The radiation shielding competence was examined for a binary glass system xLa2O3 + (1 − x) TeO2 where x = 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 mol% using MCNP-5 code. The linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) of the glasses were evaluated, and it was found that LT20 glass has the greatest LAC, while LT5 had the least LAC. The transmission factor (TF) of the glasses was evaluated against thicknesses at various selected energies and was observed to greatly decrease with increasing thickness, for example, at 1.332 MeV, the TF of the LT5 glass decreased from 0.76 to 0.25 as the thickness increased from 1 to 5 cm. The equivalent atomic number (Zeq) of the glasses gradually increased with increasing photon energy above 0.1 MeV, with the maximum values observed at around 1 MeV. The buildup factors were determined to evaluate the accumulation of photon flux, and it was found that the maximum values for both can be seen at around 0.8 MeV. This research concluded that LT20 has the greatest potential in radiation shielding applications out of the investigated glasses due to the glass having the most desirable parameters.

The gamma radiation shielding ability for CaO-K2O-Na2O-P2O5 glasses were experimentally determined between 0.0595 and 1.41 MeV. The experimental MAC results were compared with theoretical results obtained from the XCOM software to test the accuracy of the experimental values. Additionally, the effect of increasing the P2O5 in the glass composition, or reducing the Na2O content, was evaluated at varying energies. For the fabricated glasses, the experimental data strongly agreed with the XCOM results. The effective atomic number (Zeff) of the fabricated glasses was also determined. The Zeff values start out at their maximum (12.41–12.55) at the lowest tested energy, 0.0595 MeV, and decrease to 10.69–10.80 at 0.245 MeV. As energy further increases, the Zeff values remain almost constant between 0.344 and 1.41 MeV. The mean free path (MFP) of the fabricated glasses is investigated and we found that the lowest MFP value occurs at the lowest tested energy, 0.0595 MeV, and lies within the range of 1.382–1.486 cm, while the greatest MFP can be found at the highest tested energy, 1.41 MeV, within the range of 8.121–8.656 cm. At all energies, the KCNP40 sample has the lowest MFP, while the KCNP60 sample has the greatest. The half value layer (HVL) for the KCNP-X glasses is determined. For all the selected energies, the HVL values follow the order of KCNP40 &lt, KCNP45 &lt, KCNP50 &lt, KCNP55 &lt, KCNP60. The HVL of the KCNP50 sample increased from 0.996 to 2.663, 3.392, 4.351, and 5.169 cm for energies of 0.0595, 0.245, 0.444, 0.779, and 1.11 MeV, respectively. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) results reveal that decreasing the P2O5 content in the glasses improves the radiation shielding ability of the samples. Thus, the KCNP40 sample has the best potential for photon attenuation applications.

According to the Makishema–Mackenzie model assumption, the dissociation energy and packing density for a quaternary TeO2-As2O3-B2O3-Li2O glass system were evaluated. The dissociation energy rose from 67.07 to 71.85 kJ/cm3, whereas the packing factor decreased from 16.55 to 15.21 cm3/mol associated with the replacement of TeO2 by LiO2 compounds. Thus, as a result, the elastic moduli (longitudinal, shear, Young, and bulk) were enhanced by increasing the LiO2 insertion. Based on the estimated elastic moduli, mechanical properties such as the Poisson ratio, microhardness, longitudinal velocity, shear velocity, and softening temperature were evaluated for the investigated glass samples. In order to evaluate the studied glasses’ gamma-ray shield capacity, the MCNP-5 code, as well as a theoretical Phy-X/PSD program, were applied. The best shielding capacity was achieved for the glass system containing 25 mol% of TeO2, while the lowest ability was obtained for the glass sample with a TeO2 concentration of 5 mol%. Furthermore, a correlation between the studied glasses’ microhardness and linear attenuation coefficient was performed versus the LiO2 concentration to select the glass sample which possesses a suitable mechanical and shielding capacity.

The goal of this research is to investigate the influence of three heavy metal oxides (Bi2O3, BaO and TiO2) on the gamma rays shielding effectiveness of borosilicate glasses. The Geant4 simulation code has been applied to estimate the mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) of 30B2O3–(70-x)SiO2–xHMO glass systems (where HMO are Bi2O3, BaO and TiO2 with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 mol%). We estimated the μ/ρ values at six energies (i.e. 0.347, 0.511, 0.826, 1.173, 1.275 and 2.506 MeV). To determine the accuracy of the obtained results, we compared the Geant4 data with those calculated using WinXcom software. The obtained Geant4 values of the selected borosilicate glasses with different concentrations of Bi2O3, BaO and TiO2 agreed quite well with the WinXcom results at all energies. The addition of Bi2O3 and BaO increases the μ/ρ values, while the samples doped with TiO2 showed insignificant changes in μ/ρ values with the addition of TiO2. All the presented samples have lower HVL than the undoped glass sample (70SiO2-30B2O3 sample). This means that the addition of the three dopants (Bi2O3, BaO and TiO2) have led to a decrease in the HVL which enhances the attenuation performance of the current samples.

Tellurite based glasses have been of considerable interest in the last decades due to their interesting mechanical, physical and chemical features. Presently, different investigators and engineers are being devoted for developing the Tellurite based glasses to be used as effective radiation shielding materials. Our aim is to study the energy as well as PbO content dependence on the gamma rays attenuation behavior of lead tellurite glasses when the PbO content changes from 0 to 30 mol% between 0.356 and 2.506 MeV photon energies. This was achieved by considering the lead tellurite glass system with the composition x(PbO)-(100-x)(TeO2). The photon attenuation factors of the lead tellurite glasses were evaluated at five energies utilizing Monte Carlo simulation (Geant4 code). The reative difference values between Geant4 and XCOM data for the six glasses are less than 7% and this validates the accuracy of the obtained results. The mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ) reduces with an increase in the energy whereas it increases when TeO2 is replaced by PbO. The influence of PbO on the μ/ρ is significant only at 0.356 and 0.511 MeV, but at the other energies it is found that PbO slightly affects the attenuation factor. The linear attenuation coefficient of 30PbO–70TeO2 (coded as TePb6) is higher than the other samples. The effective atomic number has the maximum value at 0.356 MeV (in the range of 27.76–41.25). We compared the mean free path for the tellurite glasses with RS-520 and RS-360, Osmani, nasir and PHP glasses. The results reveal that the lead tellurite glasses (especially the samples with high PbO content) are a candidate as protection materials from hazardous radiation and have better attenuation in comparison to some nuclear engineering materials.

Bismuth borate glasses, with composition (40B2O3–20Bi2O3 – (40-x) ZnO) – xCaO: 0≤ x ≤ 20 wt%), were prepared with a melt quenching technique. The glasses were coded as BBZCa0.0 (x=0) to BBZCa20.0 (x=20). The non-crystalline state of the samples was controlled by XRD spectra. Densities (ρglass) of the prepared samples were calculated by Archimedes' conventional principle and the corresponding molar volumes (Vm) were calculated at room temperature. The optical absorption spectroscopy was recorded in UV–vis range of 190-1100 nm wavelength. Accordingly, the optical energy band gaps (EOptical) for all glasses were examined by Tauc's, absorbance spectrum fitting (ASF), and derivative absorbance spectrum fitting (DASF) methods. Additionally, the refractive index (n), optical conductivity (σoptical), and electrical conductivity (σelectrical) have been investigated. Results demonstrate that the (EOptical) decreases, while the (σoptical) and (σelectrical) increase with the enhancement of CaO content in the glasses. γ-ray shielding characteristics for the proposed samples were studied by evaluating the mass attenuation coefficients (MAC) for the glass samples between 0.015-15 MeV photon energies with the help of WinXCOM software. Also, effective atomic number (Zeff), and the mean free path (MFP) were evaluated. It is found that the γ-rays shielding performance of the BBZCa0.0 glass sample was superior compared with the other glasses.

The present study focuses on the results on survey of exposure buildup factor, photon and neutron shielding parameters for B, C and D series SiO2–PbO–CdO-Ga2O3 glasses utilizing MCNPX Monte Carlo code. In order to check out the accuracy of MCNPX results, the computational values of mass attenuation coefficients were confirmed with those of XCOM database in relatively photon energy region of 0.020–20 MeV. The relative deviation between MCNPX and XCOM values is below 10% except for 0B and 2B at 0.060 MeV and 0D and 1D at 0.122 MeV. The gamma ray buildup factors for the three extended glass systems were also determined in a wide energy range of 0.02–15 MeV for penetration depths up to 15 mfp. In addition, some related radiation attenuation parameters have been estimated and deduced that among the selected glasses, C-series sample has best photon shielding performance while being B series glasses the superior materials for neutron, alpha and proton shielding. The results showed that C series glass samples among SPCG glasses have clear advantage in weight decrease in terms of shielding the X- and gamma rays in relatively photon energy region of 0.020–20 MeV. It can be concluded that certain types of glasses which include this kind of mixture may be considered an alternative material for radiation shielding practices.

L X-ray intensity ratios for CeO2, Sm-2(SO4)(3), Ho2O3, and Yb2O3 compounds were experimentally investigated. The measurements were gauged following excitation by 59.54 keV gamma-rays from a 100 mCi Am-241 radioactive annular source at different temperatures in situ. Temperature change occurred between 50 degrees C and 400 degrees C. L X-ray emission spectra were obtained by using a solid-state Si(Li) X-ray detector. L X-ray production cross sections, intensity ratios, and full-width half maximum (FWHM) values for the compounds were determined by evaluating the emission spectra varying with the temperature. According to the results obtained, it was observed that L-beta 1 X-rays were less influenced in comparison with L alpha X-rays while L alpha X-rays were also less influenced in comparison with L beta(2) X-rays., Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Mrs. Cinan thanks the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and acknowledges their support for the doctoral scholarship.