Investigations of substantial effect on physical, structural, optical and radiation shielding properties of nitrates integrated alkaline oxyfluro phospho-silicate glasses

A unique set of glasses was prepared to explore the substantial effect of nitrate modifiers on the alkaline oxyfluro phospho-silicate network with the nominal compositional configuration of 50P2O5+11SiO2+10MO+7CaO +7MgO+7BaF2+7SrF2+1Dy2O3 (MO= Ni(NO3)2, AgNO3, Cu(NO3)2, Fe(NO3)3). The glass proportion was normalized without modifiers to observe the effect of nitrate modifiers. Modifiers were chosen from the 4th and 5th periods of the periodic table. The glasses were made using a customary melt-quench procedure. XRD measurements confirm the amorphous nature of the prepared samples and their functional groups, which the FTIR assessed. The absorption spectra were monitored in three major electromagnetic spectrum sections (UV-VIS, and NIR regions). Physical and structural properties were calculated and reported in the corresponding sections to evaluate the shielding quality of glass. In addition to that, attenuating factors of the EM wave through the alkaline oxyfluro phospho-silicate glasses in the gamma-ray region, including the mass-attenuation coefficient (MAC), mean free-path (MFP), half-value layer (HVL), and effective atomic-number (Zeff) were also calculated by PHY-X and the estimated values were discussed. Nitrates of silver and copper incorporation enhance the MAC, and similarly, the build-up factors such as EABF and EBF have been evaluated using the EXABCAL program. The values of EABF and EBF conclude that the glass with Ag(NO3)3 has the minimal secondary photon creation while interacting with high energy incident photons.