Experimental and theoretical analysis of radiation shielding properties of strontium-borate-tellurite glasses

Abstract The aim of this investigation is to analyse the radiation shielding features of a SrO–B2O3–TeO2 glass system. The glasses have the composition of 10SrO-(90-X)B2O3-XTeO2, where X is equal to 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 mol%. The mass attenuation coefficients (MAC) of the samples were experimentally determined and were validated with results obtained using the Phy-X/PSD software. Narrow beam transmission geometry was utilized to obtain the experimental MAC values. When comparing the experimental and theoretical values, the results were found to strongly agree with each other. Using the MAC values, the linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) of the glasses were determined. The results demonstrated that the LAC values decrease with increasing energy, meaning that the glasses are more effective against lower energy photons. The radiation protection efficiency (RPE) showed that increasing the TeO2 content in the glasses improves the shielding ability of the glasses. The HVL and MFP were next calculated and the SBT60 sample showed to have the lowest values at all energies, while having the greatest Zeff and Neff. Lastly, the MFP results for the SBT60 glass were compared against other common radiation shields and it was demonstrated that the sample outperformed most of the shields it was compared against. Therefore, it was concluded that the SBT60 glass has great potential as an environmentally friendly shield for radiation applications.