A Comprehensive Investigation of the Impact of NiO on the Radiation Attenuation Characteristics of (CaO-Li2O-NiO-SiO2) Glass Structure

In the present investigation, we examined the efficacy of lithium calcium silicate glasses doped with nickel for various radiation shielding applications. Specifically, we estimated the mass attenuation coefficients (μm) for samples with the composition (11.5–x)CaO-23.5Li2O-(x)NiO-65SiO2 (x = 0, 2.87, 5.75, 8.63, 11.5 mol.%) using Monte Carlo simulation (GEANT4), Phy-X/PSD, and XCOM programs over an energy range of 0.015–15 MeV. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the extracted μm magnitudes from the simulation and calculation results. Next, we estimated various other parameters, including the linear attenuation coefficients (μ), half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), fast neutron removal cross sections (ΣR), relative dose distribution (RDD) for gamma rays, energy absorption buildup factors (EABF), and exposure buildup factors (EBF). We also assessed the alpha and beta shielding characteristics of the glass samples by estimating the continuous slowing down approximation range (CSDA) and total stopping power (TSP) magnitudes. Our findings indicate that μm, μ, Zeff, and ΣR magnitudes increased as the ratio of NiO in the samples increased. In contrast, we observed that HVL, TVL, RDD, MFP, EABF, and EBF magnitudes decreased as the NiO ratio increased. A higher percentage of NiO in the samples resulted in the supply of beta and alpha particles with shorter ranges. Overall, we conclude that the lithium calcium silicate glass doped with nickel with an 11.5% NiO percentage is the optimal specimen for obtaining superior photon and charged particle shielding benefits.