Gamma radiation shielding traits of B2O3–Bi2O3–CdO–BaO–PbO glasses.

This paper evaluates the γ-radiation shielding traits of some new types of borate glasses of composition (70–x)B 2 O 3 –10Bi 2 O 3 –10BaO–10CdO–xPbO (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 20 mol%) prepared using melt quenching method. As-quenched samples were characterized to determine the effects of various PbO contents on their γ-radiation shielding properties. XRD patterns of the samples verified their amorphous nature. The Phy-X and XCOM was used to compute the mass attenuation coefficients of the glasses and then compared with the experimental data. The γ-radiation shielding performance of the proposed glasses were evaluated in terms of diverse attenuation parameters like mean free path, half and tenth value layer, atomic cross-section, electronic cross-section, effective atomic number and effective electron density. The γ-radiation shielding performance of the glasses were significantly improved with the increase of PbO contents. This new borate glass system is established to be advantageous for the radiation shielding applications. • The borate glass samples with different PbO content were prepared by the standard melt-quenching method. • The μ/ρ values of the glasses were increased with the increase of the PbO content. • The relatively higher Zeff at lower energies due to the dominance of PE effect. • Promising HVT and TVL achieved with the new prepared glasses. • The proposed glass improves the efficiency of IR shielding material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]