https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06629-x
Regular Article
Enhancing gamma-ray and neutron shielding properties of borate glasses through the addition of heavy metals oxide
Faculty of Basic Sciences, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran
Received:
7
March
2025
Accepted:
7
July
2025
Published online:
27
July
2025
Radiation shielding materials play a vital role in protecting against harmful radiation exposure in medical, industrial, and nuclear applications. This study investigates the effects of Yb₂O₃ doping on the radiation attenuation properties of two glass systems with nominal composition 10La₂O₃–50 Bi₂O₃/PbO–(40–x) B2O2–xYb2O2. The gamma ray attenuation properties over a wide energy range (0.015–15MeV) were investigated using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations and theoretical calculations using Phy-X/PSD software, with very good agreement between both methods confirming the results. The neutron shielding efficiency was determined through fast and thermal neutron removal cross sections calculations. Key radiation shielding parameters including mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number (Zeff), half-value layer, and exposure build-up factor were determined to evaluate the shielding performance. The findings derived from the study revealed that the incorporation of Yb2O3 significantly enhanced both the mass attenuation coefficient and the effective atomic number of the glass compositions examined, concurrently leading to a reduction in the values of the half-value layer and exposure build-up factors, illustrating a notable shift in performance characteristics. The Bi₂O₃-based glass (LaBiBYb) outperformed PbO-containing counterparts in both gamma and neutron attenuation due to bismuth's superior atomic properties, with the LaBiBYb2 composition showing particularly excellent neutron shielding. These results position Yb₂O₃-doped bismuth-borate glasses as promising candidates for advanced radiation shielding applications where optical transparency is required, offering valuable insights for material optimization in nuclear and medical radiation protection contexts.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
