Gamma, neutron, and charged particle shielding performance of ABKT glass system

Abstract

In this study, the gamma, charged, thermal neutron, and fast neutron radiation shielding parameters of (5+x)K 2 O-(25-x)TeO 2 -(10-x)As 2 O3-(60-x)B 2 O 3 (where x ranged from 0 (ABKT1) to 20 (ABKT5) mol% in 5 mol% steps) were calculated and simulated. In addition, important optical parameters such as the reflection loss ( R l o s s ), molar refractivity ( R m ), molar polarizability ( α m ), optical transmission ( T O p t ), metallization criterion ( M ( n ) ), static dielectric constant ( Ɛ sta ), optical dielectric constant ( Ɛ opt ) of the glasses, were computed and juxtaposed with the chemical composition of the glasses. The values of R m and α m decreased from 17.213 cm 3 /mol to 15.247 cm 3 /mol and 6.830 x10 −24 cm 3 to 6.05 x10 −24 cm 3 , respectively, as K 2 O replaced TeO 2 in the ABTK glass system. Similarly, R l o s s reduced from 0.173 to 0.164, while T O p t increased from 0.705 to 0.719. The values of M ( n ) , ε s t a , and ε O p t were in the range 0.381–0.397, 5.565–5.87, and 4.565–4.871, respectively. The mass attenuation coefficients of ABKT1–ABKT5 were within the range of 0.0276–30.8789, 0.0269–29.6485, 0.0262–28.3373, 0.0255–29.9370, and 0.0249–25.4384 cm 2 /g, respectively. ABKT1 is the best gamma photon absorber among the ABKT glasses for narrow and broad beam transmission modes. For electrons, protons, alpha particles, and heavy carbon ions, the mass stopping powers of the glasses follow the order ABKT1>ABKT2>ABKT3>ABKT4>ABKT5. ABKT1 had the best photon and ion absorbing capabilities, while ABKT5 has the highest thermal and fast neutron interaction cross-sections. The ABKT1 glass demonstrated the potential to perform better than some commercial glass shields, standard shielding glasses, light and heavy concretes, and a host of other materials as a transparent gamma radiation shielding material.