The Properties of Bi₂O₃ Additive on Radiation Shielding and Elastic Moduli Properties of TeO₂–P₂O₅ Based Glass System

Abstract

The radiation shielding and elastic moduli properties of (60–x)TeO₂–30P₂O₅–xBi₂O₃ (x increased from 10–50 mol% in 10 mol% increments) glass series have been discussed. The radiation shielding quantities such as mass attenuation coefficient (µ_m), effective atomic numbers (Z_eff), half value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) were calculated using Phy–X/PSD program at energies ranging from 1 keV–100 GeV while exposure and energy absorption buildup factors (EBF and EABF) were evaluated using geometric progression (G–P) fitting method at energies ranging 0.015–15 MeV for penetration depths (PD) until 40 mean free path (mfp). In addition, the density and elastic moduli were estimated. The results found that the TPB5 glass sample having the largest content of Bi₂O₃ possessed the highest density and excellent radiation shielding properties. This reflected that replacing TeO₂ with Bi₂O₃ improved effective radiation shielding. In addition, the MFP for glass series were lower than the hematite-serpentine concrete. It indicated that this glass series are photon shielding better than the hematite-serpentine concrete. Whereas, this sample had the lowest elastic moduli. These results indicated that Bi₂O₃, a network modifier, has broken glass network bonds and formed non–bridging oxygen (NBOs) which affects the elastic moduli of the glass system.

Keywords:

• Radiation shielding
• elastic moduli
• glass

Acknowledgments

This research is financially supported by Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI) National Science, Research and Innovation Fund (NSRF) (Fiscal Year 2022)

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).