Enhancing the physical, optical and shielding properties for ternary Sb2O3-B2O3-K2O glasses

Ternary Sb2O3-B2O3-K2O glass system, with general composition of x Sb2O3-(70-x) B2O3-30 K2O (where x = 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50) were prepared using melt-quenching technique. Structures of these glasses were investigated using XRD analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. The optical properties were investigated using the UV-Vis NIR JASCO (Model V-670) Double Beam Spectrophotometer. Different physical parameters, such as density (rho), molar volume (V-M), oxygen molar volume (V-O) and oxygen packing density values (OPD) have been estimated. Also, the Gamma radiation shielding ability have been characterized for the investigated glasses using Phy-X/PSD software in the photon energy range (0.015-15 MeV). XRD analysis confirm the amorphous nature of the prepared glasses. The optical energy gap of SBK glasses is decreasing from 4 to 2.63 eV with increasing Sb2O3 content while refractive index is increasing from 2.17 to 2.5 because of increasing the non-bridging oxygens (NBOs) in the glass matrix. The molar refractivity (R-m), molar polarizability (alpha(m)) and the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility values chi(3) have been calculated, their values are found to increase with increasing Sb2O3 content. Glass density and molar volume values for the SBK glasses increase with increasing Sb2O3 content. Increasing the Sb2O3 concentration enhance the radiation shielding features of the prepared glasses against gamma rays and neutrons. Hence, the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) increases from 8.6 to 35.4 cm(2)/gm while the half value layer (HVL) decreases from 0.036 to 0.0046 cm at 0.015 MeV as the Sb2O3 concentration increases from 0 to 50 mol%. The fast neutron cross section of the six investigated SBK glasses are (0.087, 0.092, 0.095, 0.091, 0.094 and 0.092 cm(-1)), respectively.