Silicate glass system and significant role of Bi2O3 on radiation protection ability against gamma, neutron, and charged particle

The use of ionizing radiation and hence, shielding materials has witnessed tremendous diversity in the last three decades. The use of glasses as shields in radiation facilities is gaining attention due to many attractive charac-teristics of different glass systems. In this study, the gamma-ray, neutron (fast, thermal, and cold), and charged particles' (electron, proton, alpha particles, and carbon ion) shielding ability of 60SiO(2)-15ZnO- (25-x)Li2O-x-Bi2O3 glasses (x = 0 (SZL-00Bi), 5 (SZL-05Bi), 10 (SZL-10Bi), 15 (SZL-15Bi) and 20 (SZL-20Bi) mol%) was examined through the estimation and analysis of interaction parameters. The calculated shielding parameters showed strong dependence on radiation energy and glass composition. The mass attenuation coefficient of the glasses fluctuates between 0.0236 and 0.2223 cm2g-1 for SZL-00Bi, 0.0308-1.7083 cm(2)g(-1) for SZL-05Bi, 0.0343-2.542 cm(2)g(-1) for SZL-10Bi, 0.0360-3.0756 cm(2)g(-1) for SZL-15Bi, and 0.0372-3.4463 cm(2)g(-1) for SZL-20Bi. Also, for photons of energy within 0.1-10 MeV, the estimated mean free path in the SZL-xyBi glasses varies from 1.64 cm to 15.47 cm for SZL-00Bi, 0.17 cm-9.32 cm for SZL-05Bi, 0.10 cm-7.25 cm for SZL-10Bi, 0.07 cm-5.99 cm for SZL-15Bi, and 0.06 cm-5.33 cm for SZL-20Bi. Analysis of other gamma shielding param-eters indicated that Bi2O3 enhanced the photon shielding ability of the glasses. The stopping power value of SZL-xyBi glasses for electron, proton, alpha particles and heavy carbon ion varies as follow: SZL-20Bi<SZL-15Bi<SZL-10Bi<SZL-05Bi<SZL-00Bi. In addition, SZL-00Bi has the highest RCSDA and RP whereas, the SZL-20Bi has the lowest estimated particle range among the studied glasses. The total removal cross section (sigma R) for fast neutrons is 0.0975 cm(-1) for SZL-00Bi, 0.0991 cm(-1) for SZL-05Bi, 0.0983 cm(-1) for SZL-10Bi, 0.1013 cm(-1) for SZL-15Bi and 0.1011 cm(-1) for SZL-20Bi. The best thermal neutron absorber among the glasses is SZL-05Bi. A compari-son of the photon shielding prowess of the present glasses with conventional shields showed the supremacy of the SZL-xyBi glasses. The present glasses thus have great potential as radiation shields.