Thermal, and radiation shielding properties of SrO-B 2 O 3-TeO 2-ZnO-Bi 2 O 3 glasses doped with Dy 2 O 3

The newly proposed materials demonstrated outstanding and effective radiation shielding capabilities and promising mechanical properties. A series of (20-x) SrO-(73)B 2 O 3 -(5)TeO 2 -(1)ZnO-(1)Bi 2 O 3 doped with x-Dy 2 O 3 have been produced employing the traditional melt -quench process, with the concentration of Dy 2 O 3 varying from 0.05 to 1.5 mol%. This research examined glass samples' structural stability, mechanical and thermal characteristics, and radiation shielding capabilities. All of the glasses were amorphous, as confirmed by the X-ray examination, and the glass with the label SBTZBD6 had the maximum density because of the higher Dy 2 O 3 content. The insert of Dy 2 O 3 into the glass composition increased density values from 2.94 to 3.04 g/cm 3 for SBTZBD1 and SBTZBD6 and improved mechanical properties such as Poisson ratio and elastic moduli. The hardness Vickers showed the maximum value at 1095.7 HV corresponding to Dy 2 O 3 1 mol%, indicating the influence of Dy 2 O 3 addition on the mechanical properties. The ability of the generated samples to shield against several forms of radiation, such as alpha, proton, neutron, and gamma radiation, was examined using SRIM and Phy-X software. The lowest HVL is 0.009 cm for SBTZBD6 at 0.02 MeV, the highest HVL was observed at 15 MeV with a value equal to 7.066 cm for the same sample. Dy 2 O 3 was used instead of SrO, significantly increasing the mu/rho values and improving radiation shielding. However, it was discovered that fast neutron shielding experienced a reduction in energy loss per unit mass (mass stopping power) when SrO was replaced with Dy 2 O 3 . However, the substitution also reduced energy loss per unit mass for alpha and protons and fast neutron shielding. To sum up, this study's glass samples are highly recommended for ionizing radiation shielding.