Gamma radiation shielding properties of (x)Bi2O3-(0.5-x)ZnO-0.2B2O3-0.3SiO2 glass system

Lead (Pb)-based materials are very effective in radiation shielding due to their high density of Pb. However, they pose health risks to humans because of the toxicity of lead. As a result, the investigation of radiation shielding properties of various lead-free glass materials has drawn a lot of attention from researchers. In this work, the gamma radiation competence of the Bi2O3-ZnO-B2O3-SiO2 glass network was investigated, for the first time in the 0.015-15 MeV energy range, using Phy-X/PSD and XCOM software systems. The results showed that 45Bi(2)O(3)-5ZnO-20B(2)O(3)-30SiO(2 )glass sample has the highest linear attenuation coefficient, mass attenuation coefficient, and effective atomic number, and it has the lowest half-value layer, tenth-value layer, and mean-free path. Therefore, 45Bi(2)O(3)-5ZnO-20B2O3-30SiO sample is more effective on gamma ray shielding than 10Bi(2)O(3)-40ZnO-20B2O3-30SiO, 20Bi(2)O(3)-30ZnO-20B2O3-30SiO, 30Bi(2)O(3)-20ZnO-20B(2)O(3)-30SiO, and 40Bi(2)O(3)-10ZnO-20B(2)O(3)-30SiO samples. The comparison of the results with the literature also revealed that the 45Bi(2)O(3)-5ZnO-20B(2)O(3)-30SiO glass sample is even more effective than some of Bi2O3-based glass systems, which were recently developed in the literature, by at least a factor of 2.