Physical, structural, optical investigation and shielding featuresof tungsten bismuth tellurite based glasses

Ternary tellurite glasses with composition 20WO3-xBi2O3- (80-x) TeO2 (x = 10, 15, 20 and 25 mol%) were synthesized by conventional quenching method from pure oxides. Amorphous state of the prepared samples was checked by X-ray diffraction. The variation in the density values (ρ) and molar volume (Vm) oxygen packing density (OPD) and ion concentration (N) showed the influence of Bi2O3 on glass structure. The various optical properties such as optical band gap (Eopt), refractive index (n), molar refraction (Rm), cationic polarizability (αm) and optical basicity (∧) were calculated and are discussed in terms of structural changes. These optical properties have been observed to vary with Bi2O3 concentration. FTIR investigation shows the glasses contain TeO4, BiO6 and WO4 basic structural units. Additionally, different shielding parameters such as effective atomic number, radiation protection efficiency, mean free path, half value layer and exposure buildup factor were calculated in order to effectively use these glasses simultaneously in optical-based devices with high radiation shielding performance. The results showed that the mass attenuation coefficient and effective atomic number values of WTBi4 glass sample which contains the higher Bi2O3 concentration were the maximum at the selected energies. The mean free path of the prepared glasses was compared to different glasses, while the half value layer of the prepared glasses was compared to different types of concretes.