Assessing the contribution of MoO3 and WO3 additions on sodium phosphate glasses: Elastic moduli and radiation shielding properties

This study aims to evaluate elastic moduli and radiation attenuation characteristics of sodium phosphate glasses with the composition of 40Na2O-xMoO3-(60- x)P2O5 and 40Na2O-xWO3-(60- x)P2O5, x = 0-50 mol%. The elastic and shielding characteristics were determined using the rule of mixtures approach, the Monte Carlo simulations, and Phy-X/PSD program. The findings revealed that WNP-50 (40Na2O-50WO3-10P2O5) showcased the highest values of mass and linear attenuation coefficients (MAC and LAC), effective atomic and electron numbers (Zeff and Neff) and effective conductivity (Ceff). Further, the inclusion of tungsten trioxide (WO3) positively influenced the shielding effectiveness against neutron particle, yielding the maximum fast neutron removal cross section (Sigma R = 0.101). Additionally, WNP-50 exhibited a maximum elastic modulus of 108.5 GPa. These results suggest that the investigated phosphate glass system with higher concentrations of WO3, demonstrate favourable shielding and mechanical performance, making them highly promising for various radiation applications.