Influence of PbO content on the gamma ray shielding properties of lead boro-telluro-phosphate glasses.

This paper investigates the influence of lead monoxide (PbO) content on the gamma ray attenuation coefficients of boro-telluro-phosphate glasses. The MCNP5 simulation code has been applied to estimate the mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) of Sm3+ doped (60-x)B 2 O 3 -xPbO-14TeO 2 -10P 2 O 5 -7.5BaO-7.5CdO-1Sm 2 O 3 (x = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) glass system within 0.02–10 MeV photon energy range. The MCNP5 simulated results are accord with the theoretical XCOM results perfectly. The results show that the increasing content of PbO in the glass compositions can improve the gamma ray shielding capability of the studied glasses. With the biggest content of PbO in Pb40B20 glass, superior HVL and Z eff values are observed. The values of HVL for Pb40B20 glass vary from 0.0035 to 3.6824 cm, and the values of Z eff vary from 25.94 to 70.05 depending on the photon energy 0.02–10 MeV. In addition, the boro-telluro-phosphate glasses have been compared with types of commercial concretes and glasses in terms of HVL. • μ/ρ, Z eff , N eff, EBF, HVL and MFP for Sm3+ doped lead boro-telluro-phosphate glasses have been calculated. • The maximum value for μ/ρ and Z eff was found for the glasses with the highest PbO oxide. • MCNP code and XCOM software were used to calculate (μ/ρ) at different energies. • With the addition of PbO, the shielding properties of the prepared glasses were improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]