ANALYSIS OF RADIATION SHIELDING PARAMETERS OF PRISTINE AND GADOLINIUM OXIDE DOPED ZINC BOROTELLURITE GLASS SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33003/fjs-2026-1004-4884Keywords:
Density, Lead-free glass, Radiation shielding properties, Gamma-rays, Mass attenuation, coefficientAbstract
Convectional radiation shielding materials such as lead and concrete present significant toxicity and structural limitations, underscoring the need for safe, high performance glass based alternatives. This paper studies the radiation shielding parameter for the glass of Gd2O3-doped zinc borotellurite glasses, with varying concentrations of Gd2O3 (x = 0.0 to 0.05 mol, coded as S1 to S6). Theoretical calculations using Phy-X and WinXCom software reveal that the glass sample with 5% Gd2O3 (S6) exhibits superior radiation shielding performance, with the highest mass attenuation coefficient (MAC = 0.07623 cm2/g at 0.662 MeV), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and effective atomic number (Zeff = 19.10 at 0.662 MeV), as well as the lowest half-value layer (HVL = 1.857 cm at 0.662 MeV) and mean free path (MFP = 2.679 cm at 0.662 MeV) values. The results show a direct correlation between the concentration of Gd2O3 and the material's radiation shielding properties, with S6 demonstrating the best performance. Comparison with lead-free and concrete radiation shielding materials for gamma energies 0.662 MeV, 1.17 MeV and 1.332 MeV reveals that S6 outperforms all compared materials in HVL, MFP and Zeff, highlighting its potential as a superior radiation shielding material. The maximum deviation between MAC value calculated via Phy-X and WinXCom results is 0.088%, confirming the reliability of the calculations.
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