Availability of water glass/Bi2O3 composites in dielectric and gamma-ray screening applications

Sodium silicate (Na2Si3O7) also known as water glass is a very low cost material which is used in many industrial applications such as a builder in detergents, as a binder and adhesive etc. But so far the electrical properties of sodium silicate and its ability to screen radiation have never been investigated. In the present study, the frequency dependent electrical properties and gamma-ray shielding performance of water glass based bismuth oxide composites have been studied for the first time. In accordance with this purpose, Na2Si3O7/Bi2O3 glassy composites have been prepared for searching their possible applications in electronics and radiation screening. The surface morphology of the samples have been determined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The frequency dependent electrical properties such as complex impedance, complex dielectric function and conductivity have been analyzed at room temperature between 1 and 40MHz. As a result of alternative current (ac) electrical analysis, it has been determined that the Na2Si3O7/Bi2O3 composites can be utilized as a dielectric layer in capacitors. On the other hand, since bismuth oxide is an anti-radiative material, the gamma-ray screening parameters such as mass attenuation coefficient, half layer and tenth layer values along with mean free path of the composites have been defined experimentally by using NaI(Tl) scintillation detector for the Ba-133 radiation source at 81 and 356keV. The values of these parameters have also been checked by Monte-Carlo simulation. Since a good agreement has been assigned between experimental and Monte-Carlo simulation results, the related gamma ray shielding parameters have been determined by Monte-Carlo simulation for other gamma photon energies (140keV, 208keV, 468keV, and 661keV) which are generated from Tc-99, Lu-177, Ir-132, and Cs-137 sources. Ultimately, Na2Si3O7/Bi2O3(35%) composite has been suggested as an eco-friendly, lead-free glassy structured material for the gamma radiation shielding in medical applications.