Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2021) 136: 639
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01564-z

Regular Article

Structural, mechanical, and nuclear radiation shielding properties of iron aluminoleadborate glasses

¹ Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
² Ural Federal University, 19 Mira St., 620002, Yekaterinburg, Russia
³ Nuclear Materials Authority, P.O. Box 530, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
⁴ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, PO 71524, Assiut, Egypt
⁵ Department of Nuclear Medicine Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam, Saudi Arabia
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Isra University, Amman, Jordan
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, PO 71524, Assiut, Egypt

^b kmakhmud@urfu.ru
^f khamies1078@yahoo.com

Received: 4 March 2021
Accepted: 13 May 2021
Published online: 6 June 2021

Abstract

Glasses with the composition of 55B₂O₃––30Pb₃O₄-Al₂O₃-Fe₂O₃, were fabricated. The addition of Fe₂O₃ makes significant changes in the glasses' color. The emergence of Fe₂O₃ in a glass matrix enhances the structural network by raising the oxygen level, resulting in the transformation of BO₃ into BO₄ units. With the addition of Fe₂O₃ content, the values of elastic moduli demonstrated a significant increase. The Monte Carlo simulation code was utilized to evaluate the shielding parameters in an energy range between 0.15 and 1.408 MeV. Also, a theoretical calculation was used to evaluate the fast neutron removal cross section. The LAC values at 0.24, 0.662, and 1.173 MeV, were linearly enhanced with an increase in the Fe₂O₃ incrementation rate. The shortest relaxation length (λ) values detected at 0.15 MeV, equal to 0.168, 0.157, 143, 0.130, and 0.121 cm for glass samples G1–G5, respectively, while the longest λ equal 5.142, 4.793, 4.375, 3.941, and 3.654 cm for the G1–G5, respectively. The transmission factor (TF) decreases with the replacement of Al₂O₃ by Fe₂O₃. The TF of gamma photons through 1 cm of the G5 glass sample raised from 5.93 to 76.06% as the energy increased from 0.24 to 1.405 MeV.