Physical, Optical and Radiation Shielding Properties of Some Phosphate Glasses

Glass systems xPbO-(50-x)ZnO-50(P2O5) (where x = 0,10,20,30,40,50 mol%) were made using the traditional melt quench method. The produced samples' amorphous phase was confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of replacing Zn2+ with Pb2+ ions on the chemical structure of the studied system was investigated using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) in the range 400-4000 cm(-1). Moreover, the optical constants such as refractive index, absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, optical band gap, and optical conductivity have been calculated using UV-Visible spectroscopy. Density, Molar volume, and hardness were measured, and they are found to be composition-dependent. Co-60 (6.95 mu ci) and Cs-137 (10 mu ci) radioactive sources were used to investigate the attenuation of gamma rays through the samples. The basic shielding quantities for determining the penetration of radiation in glass, such as mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho) and half value layer (HVL) were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The results proved that the prepared glass samples possess superior gamma-ray shielding effectiveness.