Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2021) 136: 108
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-01011-5

Regular Article

Development of a novel MoO₃-doped borate glass network for gamma-ray shielding applications

¹ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Isra University, Amman, Jordan
² Department of Nuclear Medicine Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), PO Box 1982, 31441, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
³ Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia
⁴ Nuclear Materials Authority, El Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
⁵ Advance Science Research, Junior, Eastchester High School, Eastchester, NY, USA
⁶ Computational Unit, Department of Environmental Health, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, 31441, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
⁷ Department of Physics, College of Sciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
⁸ Medical Imaging Department, Applied Medical Sciences Faculty, Al Azhar University-Gaza, Gaza, Palestine
⁹ Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 1982, 31441, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
¹⁰ Basic and Applied Scientific Research Center, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 1982, 31441, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
¹¹ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

^b kmakhmud@urfu.ru

Received: 25 September 2020
Accepted: 9 December 2020
Published online: 19 January 2021

Abstract

Five glass samples with the composition of 20CdO–10SrO–(70 − x) B₂O₃–xMoO₃, where x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mol%, were analyzed for their radiation shielding properties. The study seeks to observe the effect of increasing the concentration of MoO₃ on gamma photon shielding features. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of the fabricated glasses was measured experimentally at five different gamma-ray energies 0.662, 0.184, 0.28, 0.71, and 0.81 MeV. Moreover, the LAC's experimental results of all fabricated glass samples were compared with the Monte Carlo simulation code (MCNP-5) and XCOM program. The measured data and those obtained theoretically using the MCNP-5 code and XCOM program showed strong compatibility. Various parameters were analyzed to determine the glasses' viability as radiation shields, including mass attenuation coefficient, linear attenuation coefficient, radiation protection efficiency, transmission factor, half-value layer, and mean free path. The data were recorded and plotted, and it was determined that the glass coded as MB20 is the most efficient radiation shield out of the investigated samples. The experimental measurements depict that the highest LAC obtained at gamma photon energy 0.184 MeV decreased in the range between 0.557 and 0.894 cm⁻¹, while the lowest obtained at 0.81 MeV and decreased from 0.218 to 0.38 cm⁻¹ for the investigated glass samples MB0 and MB20, respectively.