Impact of Bi₂O₃ on the glass system B₂O₃ -TeO₂–MgO–PbO on the purpose of radiation shielding efficacy

In this study, eight glass samples were prepared with the composition of [x Bi₂O₃-(75-x) B₂O₃–15TeO₂ –5MgO–5PbO; where x = 0, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 60 mol%]. In the composition of those glass samples, various amountsof B₂O₃ were replaced by Bi₂O₃ to improve the glass material's radiation shielding capability. The mechanical properties of these glasses have been evaluated using densimeter and microhardness. The Vickers microhardness (Hv) slightly decreases as the amount of Bi2O3 increases due to the formation of Non-Bridging Oxygen (NBO). To evaluate the radiation shielding effectiveness of the prepared glass samples, we performed Monte Carlo simulations of several shielding parameters. The mass attenuation coefficients of the experimentally produced BTMPBi glass series were calculated using NIST and MCNP6, and reasonable agreement was found between the simulation and experimental results. The relative difference between NIST and MCNP6-based results was calculated, and the maximum deviation was 2.21% for the 1173 keV gamma ray incident in the BTMPBi60 glass sample. The value of the mean free path of those prepared glass samples maintained the following trend - BTMPBi0> BTMPBi10> BTMPBi20> BTMPBi25> BTMPBi30> BTMPBi40> BTMPBi50>BTMPBi60. The prepared glass sample BTMPBi0 showed a 2.6 times higher value of the mean free path at energy 1332 KeV compared with the prepared BTMPBi60. Analyzing the composition of the prepared glass samples, it is clear that the greater the amount of Bi₂O₃ the greater the value of linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and effective atomic number. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the glass sample containing 60 mol % of Bi₂O₃ (BTMPBi60) exhibited the highest radiation shielding capability among all of the prepared samples.