Evaluation of lithium tetra borate glass-ceramics: Structural, physical and radiation safety properties using experimental and theoretical methods

By using the standard melt quenching method, samples of lithium borate glass-ceramics with a composition of 40Li(2)B(4)O(7) + xLi(2)O +(50-x)NiO+5Gd(2)O(3) + 5BaTiO(3) (x = 10 (C1), 20 (C2), 30 (C3), 40 (C4) and 50 (C5) wt%) have been manufactured. The structural and physical characteristics of the prepared C1-C5 samples have been investigated. Using an Ultra Ge detector and a 133Ba (3 Ci) radioisotope source as well as theoretically using EpiXS software, the radiation shielding competence of the C1-C5 samples were examined. The XRD analysis showed large crystal particle sizes were formed in the C1 sample, where the amount of NiO in its structure was maximum and the amount of Li2O was minimum. The change in the NiO/Li2O ratio caused the crystal particle size in the structure to decrease. Additionally, it was observed that the particle size increased in the C4 structure. In addition, the C3 and C5 structures became completely amorphous. This doping in the structure caused the crystal structure of C3 and C5 to deteriorate. While increasing the amount of NiO in the structure gave positive results up to a certain value, increasing the Li2O structure disrupted the crystal structure. A range of 2.91-4.51 g/cm(3) was observed in the density of the synthesized C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5 samples. The dense C1 sample proved to have the largest mass-attenuation coefficient (MAC). The results obtained from experiments agree with the theoretical ones. There are no differences in the trends of the MAC and linear attenuation (LAC) coefficient. For each given energy, the half-value layer (HVL) organized as (HVL)(C5) > (HVL)(C4) > (HVL)(C3) > (HVL)(C2) > (HVL)(C1). Results revealed that glass-ceramics are one source of materials that can be used for radiation shielding.