Detailed Inspection of γ-ray, Fast and Thermal Neutrons Shielding Competence of Calcium Oxide or Strontium Oxide Comprising Bismuth Borate Glasses

Gandham Lakshminarayana; Youssef Elmahroug; Ashok Kumar; Huseyin Ozan Tekin; Najeh Rekik; Mengge Dong; Dong-Eun Lee; Jonghun Yoon; Taejoon Park

doi:10.3390/ma14092265

Detailed Inspection of γ-ray, Fast and Thermal Neutrons Shielding Competence of Calcium Oxide or Strontium Oxide Comprising Bismuth Borate Glasses

Materials (Basel). 2021 Apr 27;14(9):2265. doi: 10.3390/ma14092265.

Authors

Gandham Lakshminarayana¹, Youssef Elmahroug^{2

3}, Ashok Kumar⁴, Huseyin Ozan Tekin^{5

6}, Najeh Rekik^{7

8}, Mengge Dong⁹, Dong-Eun Lee¹⁰, Jonghun Yoon¹¹, Taejoon Park¹²

Affiliations

¹ Intelligent Construction Automation Center, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 41566, Korea.
² Unité de Recherche de Physique Nucléaire et des Hautes Energies, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis 2092, Tunisia.
³ Ecole Centrale Polytechnique Privée de Tunis, Univesité Centrale, La Goulette 2015, Tunisia.
⁴ Department of Physics, University College, Benra-Dhuri, Punjab 148024, India.
⁵ Medical Diagnostic Imaging Department, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
⁶ Medical Radiation Research Center (USMERA), Uskudar University, Istanbul 34672, Turkey.
⁷ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Ha'il, 81451 Ha'il, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2, Canada.
⁹ Department of Resource and Environment, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
¹⁰ School of Architecture, Civil, Environment and Energy, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sangyeok-dong, Buk-gu, DaeGu 702-701, Korea.
¹¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Gyeonggi-do, Ansan 15588, Korea.
¹² Department of Robotics Engineering, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Gyeonggi-do, Ansan 15588, Korea.

Abstract

For both the B₂O₃-Bi₂O₃-CaO and B₂O₃-Bi₂O₃-SrO glass systems, γ-ray and neutron attenuation qualities were evaluated. Utilizing the Phy-X/PSD program, within the 0.015-15 MeV energy range, linear attenuation coefficients (µ) and mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) were calculated, and the attained μ/ρ quantities match well with respective simulation results computed by MCNPX, Geant4, and Penelope codes. Instead of B₂O₃/CaO or B₂O₃/SrO, the Bi₂O₃ addition causes improved γ-ray shielding competence, i.e., rise in effective atomic number (Z_eff) and a fall in half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP). Exposure buildup factors (EBFs) and energy absorption buildup factors (EABFs) were derived using a geometric progression (G-P) fitting approach at 1-40 mfp penetration depths (PDs), within the 0.015-15 MeV range. Computed radiation protection efficiency (RPE) values confirm their excellent capacity for lower energy photons shielding. Comparably greater density (7.59 g/cm³), larger μ, μ/ρ, Z_eff, equivalent atomic number (Z_eq), and RPE, with the lowest HVL, TVL, MFP, EBFs, and EABFs derived for 30B₂O₃-60Bi₂O₃-10SrO (mol%) glass suggest it as an excellent γ-ray attenuator. Additionally, 30B₂O₃-60Bi₂O₃-10SrO (mol%) glass holds a commensurably bigger macroscopic removal cross-section for fast neutrons (Σ_R) (=0.1199 cm^-1), obtained by applying Phy-X/PSD for fast neutrons shielding, owing to the presence of larger wt% of 'Bi' (80.6813 wt%) and moderate 'B' (2.0869 wt%) elements in it. 70B₂O₃-5Bi₂O₃-25CaO (mol%) sample (B: 17.5887 wt%, Bi: 24.2855 wt%, Ca: 11.6436 wt%, and O: 46.4821 wt%) shows high potentiality for thermal or slow neutrons and intermediate energy neutrons capture or absorption due to comprised high wt% of 'B' element in it.

Keywords: B2O3-Bi2O3-CaO glass; B2O3-Bi2O3-SrO glass; PENELOPE code; Phy-X/PSD software; radiation protection efficiency; γ- and neutron radiation.

Grants and funding

NRF-2018R1A5A1025137/National Research Foundation