Optically transparent glass modified with metal oxides for X-rays and gamma rays shielding material

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Metal oxide glass composites have attracted huge interest as promising shielding materials to replace toxic, heavy, and costly conventional shielding materials. OBJECTIVE: In this work, we evaluate shielding effectiveness of four novel tellurite-based glasses samples doped with oxide metals (namely, A, B, C, and D, which are 75TeO2- 10P2O5- 10ZnO- 5PbF2- 0.24Er2O3 ; 70TeO2- 10P2O5- 10ZnO- 5PbF2 -5MgO- 0.24Er2O3; 70TeO2- 10P2O5- 10ZnO- 5PbF2- 5BaO- 0.24Er2O3 ; and 70TeO2- 10P2O5-10ZnO- 5PbF2- 5SrO; respectively) by assessing them through a wide range of ionizing radiation energies (0.015–15 MeV). METHODS: The radiation-shielding parameters including mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path, (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective electron number (Neff), and the transmission factor are computed in the selected range of ionizing radiation energies. Furthermore, the proposed samples were compared with the most common shielding glass materials. The optical parameters viz oscillator, dispersion energy, nonlinear refractive indices, molar, and electronic polarizability of these transparent glasses are reported at different wavelengths. RESULTS: The results show that the proposed samples have considerable effectiveness as transparent shielding glass materials at various ionizing radiation energies. They can be employed for effective radiation-protection outcomes. Sample C demonstrated slightly better shielding properties than the other samples with differences of 1.33%, 4.6%, and 4.2% for samples A, B, and D, respectively. A similar trend is observed regarding the mass attenuation coefficients. Nevertheless, sample B shows better optical properties than the other prepared glass samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the proposed novel glass samples have good shielding properties and optical characteristics, which can pave the way for their utilization as transparent radiation-shielding materials in medical and industrial applications.

Unconventional High-Value Utilization of Metallurgical Iron-Bearing Dust as Shielding Composite for Medical X-rays

“…Cement and concrete, which are bulky and prone to cracking, are mainly used for fixed protection, such as in buildings [21,22], while lead shielding materials have poor mechanical strength, are toxic, scatter more low-energy X-rays, and are more costly [23,24]. Although iron-based metal materials have high specific gravity and high mechanical strength, they are costly and have singular performance [25]. It is undoubtedly wise to choose a cheap alternative and prepare it as a composite material.…”

The Effect of ZnO, MgO, TiO2, and Na2O Modifiers on the Physical, Optical, and Radiation Shielding Properties of a TeTaNb Glass System

“…Due to the dramatic increase in the use of radiation in medical and industrial applications, radiation shielding issues have become an important topic among researchers [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Much research has been conducted to study the effectiveness of glass as a radiation shield [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. All results concluded that glass could offer excellent shielding against radiation for different applications, such as nuclear power plants, agricultural machinery, industrial processes, and medical applications [ 11 ].…”

Optical and Shielding Parameters of Tellurite Glass with Composition 80TeO2-5Nb2O5-10ZnO-5LiF for Medical Application: Theoretical Investigation

“…Several studies have been conducted to develop alternative materials that replace lead such as tellurite base glasses, phosphate-based materials, metal alloy, polymers [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. These studies showed a good shielding performance in terms of high shielding efficiency without loss of transparency, good physical properties, thermal stability, and good optical properties.…”

“…The shielding effectiveness has been studied in terms of the physical properties, radiation shielding parameters, LAC, MAC, HVL, MFP, Z eff, and N eff . Hussein, et al [16] have studied the shielding effectiveness of four novel tellurite-based glasses samples doped with oxide metals (75TeO…”