Elsevier

Ceramics International

Volume 47, Issue 2, 15 January 2021, Pages 2772-2780
Ceramics International

Nuclear shielding properties of B2O3–Bi2O3–SrO glasses modified with Nd2O3: Theoretical and simulation studies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.09.131Get rights and content

Abstract

The gamma-ray and fast/thermal neutron shielding properties of bismo-borate glasses modified with Nd2O3 in the form B2O3–Bi2O3–SrO-Nd2O3 (BBSN0.0-BBSN5.7) were investigated. The newly developed Phy-X/PSD software and Geant4 simulation code were performed to achieve this goal by evaluating several parameters such as MAC, gamma photons dose rate, FNRCS, and scattering/absorption lengths and cross sections for thermal neutrons. At low photon energy; 0.015 MeV, MAC values varied from 76.72, 76.57, 76.43, 76.29, 76.10, and 75.93 cm2 g−1 for BBSN0.0, BBSN1.0, BBSN2.0, BBSN3.0, BBSN4.3, and BBSN5.7, respectively. The HVL followed reversible trend as follows; BBSN0.0 > BBSN1.0 > BBSN2.0 > BBSN3.0 > BBSN4.3 > BBSN5.7. The highest values for Zeff were found at low energy photon range (0.015 MeV) with the values of 76.71, 76.35, 76.00, 75.65, 75.21, and 74.75, while the lowest values were found at 1.5 MeV; 21.32, 21.42, 21.52, 21.61, 21.73, and 21.87 for BBSN0.0 – BBSN5.7, respectively. The gamma dose rate has a dramatic decrease with increasing the glass thickness from 1 mm to 5 mm. Furthermore, glasses with the highest concentration of Nd2O3 show the best thermal/fast neutron shielding capability among the investigated glasses. One can conclude that BBSN5.7 glass owns the best shielding capacity among all BBSN glasses due to the highest LAC values comparing to other selected ones.

Introduction

In the area of nuclear protection, applicable materials that are applied as ionizing radiation shields necessary to have some properties such as transparency at normal room temperature (NRT), stiffness, non-harsh, non-harmless, thermal stability, and environmentally local [1]. Therefore, the usage of glass materials as radiation defenses has been made interesting and charismatic due to their sole characteristics compared to traditional shielding tools like polymers, rocks, and concrete [[2], [3], [4]].

According to modern technology, several glass systems have been used for alpha, proton, and gamma-ray absorption in X-ray examination rooms in nuclear facilities across the world, security X-ray checking room in airports, and in hospitals [5]. Consequently, different glass systems would have to be suggested, preparation, and investigated for their protection potentials. Therefore, glasses have been placed in the right position among the other materials that are used as a radiation shield due to their unique kinetics, electrical, thermal, and optical features [[6], [7], [8], [9]].

Phosphate, silicate, tellurite, borate-based glass systems are commonly used in several areas [[10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]]. Borate-based glasses are described by evident properties that make them more suitable for many applications such as optical and laser devices [17]. Many authors reported that the addition of alkaline earth oxides as modifiers such as BaO and SrO [2], transition metal oxides like ZnO and Cr2O3 [3], alkali oxides such as Na2O and Li2O [1], heavy metal oxides like Bi2O and/or PbO [3,4], rare earth oxides such as Sm2O3, Gd2O3, Nd2O3, etc. [5]. to glass compositions have been improved their linear and nonlinear optical, thermal, radiation shielding features [[18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26]].

In order to evaluate the efficiency of using a material as a shield for neutron and photons (gamma- and X rays), some effective radiation shielding parameters must be investigated such as the MAC and LAC, Zeff, MFP, HVL, and fast neutron cross section [[22], [23], [24], [25]].

The aim of this study is to evaluate both gamma-ray and thermal/fast neutron protection capacity of strontium bismo-borate glasses doped with Nd3+ ions. Geant4 simulation code was utilized to mimic all the required conditions for gamma-ray transmission through the investigated glasses. Moreover, the thermal neutron shielding study was achieved by evaluating the scattering lengths, absorption cross sections, and scattering cross sections. The fast neutron shielding study was described by using the removal cross sections. The effect of Nd3+ ions on the gamma-ray and neutron shielding capacity was explained in detail. Finally, the gamma-ray shielding capacity of the present glasses was compared with several shielding materials.

Section snippets

BBSN0.0 – BBSN5.7 glasses

Six samples of strontium bismo-borate glasses co-doped with neodymium Nd3+ ions with the form B2O3–Bi2O3–SrO-Nd2O3 glasses were chosen from Ref. [26]. The investigated samples were coded as:BBSN0.0: 50B2O3–30Bi2O3–20SrO-0.0Nd2O3BBSN1.0: 49.5B2O3-29.7Bi2O3-19.8SrO-1.0Nd2O3BBSN2.0: 49B2O3-29.4Bi2O3-19.6SrO-2.0Nd2O3BBSN3.0: 48.5B2O3-29.1Bi2O3-19.4SrO-3.0Nd2O3BBSN4.3: 47.9B2O3-28.7Bi2O3-19.1SrO-4.3Nd2O3BBSN5.7: 47.2B2O3-28.3Bi2O3-18.8SrO-5.7Nd2O3

Samples code, molar fraction, weight fraction, and

Results and discussion

The photon shielding attenuation parameters for five strontium bismo-borate glasses doped with neodymium as well as the un-doped glass sample (B2O3–Bi2O3–SrO-Nd2O3) have been investigated in the wide range of photon energies at 0.015–15 MeV via two calculation methods; by Monte Carlo study through Geant4 code and; theoretical calculations regarding to the Phy-X/PSD program. The relative deviations have been calculated and listed in Table 2, Table 3. It was found that there is a compatible

Conclusion

In the present study, the capacity of strontium bismo-borate glasses doped with different concentrations of Nd2O3 content with the form B2O3–Bi2O3–SrO-Nd2O3 as ionizing radiation and neutron shielding was investigated. This aim was achieved by evaluation several of radiation shielding parameters of the proposed glasses (BBSN0.0-BBSN5.7) via Phy-X/PSD software and Geant4 simulation code. The obtained results concluded that at low photon energy (0.015 MeV), MAC values varied from 76.72, 76.57,

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for the financial support through research groups program under grant number (R.G.P.2/97/41).

References (50)

  • A.A. El-Moneim

    Elastic moduli and Poisson's ratio prediction in borate-based PbO-B2O3-V2O5 and Li2O-ZnO-B2O3 glass systems

    J. Non-Cryst. Solids

    (2019)
  • M.A. Ouis et al.

    Comparative optical, FTIR and photoluminescence Spectral analysis of copper ions in BaO – B2O3, SrO – B2O3 or Bi2O3 – B2O3 glasses and impact of gamma irradiation

    J. Lumin.

    (2020)
  • Y.S. Rammah et al.

    Fabrication, physical, optical characteristics and gamma-ray competence of novel bismo-borate glasses doped with Yb2O3 rare earth

    Phys. B Condens. Matter

    (2020)
  • Y.S. Rammah et al.

    Evaluation of photon, neutron, and charged particle shielding competences of TeO2-B2O3-Bi2O3-TiO2 glasses

    J. Non-Cryst. Solids

    (2020)
  • Y.S. Rammah et al.

    B2O3–BaCO3–Li2O3 glass system doped with Co3O4: structure, optical, and radiation shielding properties

    Physica B

    (2020)
  • M.S. Gaafar et al.

    Role of neodymium on some acoustic and physical properties of Bi2O3 – B2O3 – SrO glasses

    J. Mater. Res. Technol.

    (2020)
  • Erdem Şakar et al.

    Phy-X/PSD: development of a user friendly online software for calculation of parameters relevant to radiation shielding and dosimetry

    Radiat. Phys. Chem.

    (2020)
  • A. El-Khayatt

    Calculation of fast neutron removal cross-sections for some compounds and materials

    Ann. Nucl. Energy

    (2010)
  • I.I. Bashter

    Calculation of radiation attenuation coefficients for shielding concretes

    Ann. Nucl. Energy

    (1997)
  • M.S. Al-Buriahi et al.

    Influence of Bi2O3/PbO on nuclear shielding characteristics of lead-zinc-tellurite glasses

    Phys. B Condens. Matter

    (2020)
  • E. Kavaz et al.

    Estimation of gamma radiation shielding qualification of newly developed glasses by using WinXCOM and MCNPX code

    Prog. Nucl. Energy

    (2019)
  • K.A. Naseer et al.

    Influence of Bi2O3 concentration on barium-telluro-borate glasses: physical, structural and radiation-shielding properties

    Ceram. Int.

    (2020)
  • Y.S. Rammah et al.

    FTIR, UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy, and gamma rays shielding competence of novel ZnO-doped vanadium borophosphate glasses

    J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron.

    (2020)
  • V.P. Singh et al.

    Effect of heat treatment on radiation shielding properties of concretes

    J. Radiat. Prot. Res.

    (2018)
  • Y.S. Rammah

    Influence of Ag2O insertion on alpha, proton and γ-rays safety features of TeO2.ZnO.Na2O glasses: potential use for nuclear medicine applications

    Ceram. Int.

    (2020)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text