Synthesis and nuclear radiation shielding characterization of newly developed germanium oxide and bismuth oxide glasses.

We present the synthesis and nuclear radiation shielding characterization of glasses based on germanium and bismuth oxide prepared with the melt-quenching technique. The glasses were produced using six different compositions as follows (in wt%): 40.0GeO 2 -60.0PbO, 38.0GeO 2 -62.0Bi 2 O 3 , 31.344GeO 2 -41.900Bi 2 O 3 -26.756PbO, 33.334GeO 2 -33.333TeO 2 -33.333PbO, 20.6GeO 2 -41.9TeO 2 -17.4Nb 2 O 5 -20.1BaO, 41.98Bi 2 O 3 -48.26PbO-8.10Ga 2 O 3 -1.66BaO. Monte Carlo method (MCNPX code, v-2.6.0) has been utilized for the determination of mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) of the synthesised six different glasses. The acquired mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) have been used to determine the vital parameters for gamma-ray shielding namely half value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), tenth value layer (TVL), effective atomic number (Zeff), exposure buildup factor (EBF), energy absorption buildup factor (EABF), transmission factors (TF), respectively. Simultaneously, effective removal cross section (∑R) values for fast neutrons and Proton mass stopping power & proton projected range have been also calculated. The results showed that among all the investigated glasses, 41.98Bi 2 O 3 -48.26PbO-8.10Ga 2 O 3 -1.66BaO glass sample has the extra capability to reduce nuclear radiation as a shielding material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]