The effect of rare earths (Nd³⁺, Er³⁺, Yb³⁺) additives on the radiation shielding properties of the tungsten oxide modified tellurite glasses

Abstract

In this study, we have reported on the effect of the rare earth oxides on the radiation protection performance of the tellurite glasses. In order to determine the effect of rare earth oxides on the radiation shielding properties of tungsten oxide (WO3) modified tellurite glasses, three rare earth element oxides (Nd2O3, Yb2O3, and Er2O3) have been selected. The glass systems have been synthesized using the traditional melt quenching method and were doped with the different amount (1 %, 3 %, 5 %) of the oxides of rare earth elements (Nd2O3, Yb2O3, Er2O3). The linear attenuation coefficient, mass attenuation coefficient, half value layer, and effective atomic number of the synthesized samples were experimentally measured for 662, 1,173 and 1,332 keV gamma-ray energies which were emitted from 137Cs and 60Co radioactive sources. Measurements were conducted in narrow beam transmission geometry using a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. In addition, all these parameters were calculated theoretically using the WinXCOM program in the energy region of 0.015–15 MeV. The addition of different types and amounts of rare earth oxides to the tellurite glass system was found to significantly enhance the radiation protection performance of the glasses. In particular, it was found that the radiation shielding characteristics of the glasses improved with increasing amount of rare earth doping, the TWYb5 glass system had the best radiation shielding properties, and there was a trend among the doped rare earth oxides in the form of Yb > Er > Nd according to their radiation shielding performance.