Gamma-rays shielding characteristics of borosilicate glass containing ZnO by using WinXCOM

Abstract

In this study, the glass system of (55-x)SiO2-20B2O3-10Na2O-4MgO-8CaO-3Al2O3-xZnOwhere x: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt% were investigated by using WinXCom database. Radiationshielding characteristics of linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient(MAC), half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) parameters of 6 different glasssystems were calculated in the photon energy range of 0.015-10 MeV. A comparison for HVLvalues between heavyweight concrete materials & commercial glasses and our findings wasalso carried out. Furthermore, some important glass property estimations and viscositytemperature curve predictions were performed with the use of BatchMaker software. Accordingto the WinXCom calculations, it was found out that LAC and MAC values increased while HVLand MFP values decreased with the increasing ZnO content. Particularly, 25 wt% of ZnO(sample-5) addition ensured to obtain by far the best radiation shielding characteristics at higherphoton energies. As a result of the comparison, it was strikingly seen that our glass sampleshave promising results when compared with heavyweight concrete materials and commercialproducts. Interestingly, sample-5 can compete even with RS 323 G18 (33 wt% PbO content) inhigher photon energies despite its low-density value. Moreover, it was determined that our glasssystems were found to have glass formation ability with satisfactory glass properties accordingto BatchMaker estimate calculations.