Exploring the FTIR, Optical and Nuclear Radiation Shielding Properties of Samarium-Borate Glass: A Characterization through Experimental and Simulation Methods

Shams A M Issa; Hesham M H Zakaly; Huseyin O Tekin; Heba A Saudi; Ali Badawi; Mariia Pyshkina; Gulfem Susoy; Ahmed I Elazaka; Antoaneta Ene

doi:10.3390/nano11071713

Exploring the FTIR, Optical and Nuclear Radiation Shielding Properties of Samarium-Borate Glass: A Characterization through Experimental and Simulation Methods

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Jun 29;11(7):1713. doi: 10.3390/nano11071713.

Authors

Shams A M Issa^{1

2}, Hesham M H Zakaly^{1

3}, Huseyin O Tekin^{4

5}, Heba A Saudi⁶, Ali Badawi^{7

8}, Mariia Pyshkina³, Gulfem Susoy⁹, Ahmed I Elazaka^{10

11}, Antoaneta Ene¹²

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt.
² Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 47512, Saudi Arabia.
³ Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, 620002 Yekaterinburg, Russia.
⁴ Medical Diagnostic Imaging Department, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Medical Radiation Research Center (USMERA), Uskudar University, 34672 Istanbul, Turkey.
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University (Girls' Branch), Nasr City 11884, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Physics, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Physics, University College of Turabah, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Istanbul University, 34452 Istanbul, Turkey.
¹⁰ Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, 115409 Moscow, Russia.
¹¹ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11884, Egypt.
¹² INPOLDE Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, 47 Domneasca Street, 800008 Galati, Romania.

Abstract

(Tl₂O₃)₃₀-(Li₂O)₁₀-(B₂O₃)_(60-y₎-(Sm₂O₃)_y glass system with various Sm₂O₃ additives (y = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) was studied in detail. The vibrational modes of the (Tl₂O₃)₃₀-(Li₂O)₁₀-(B₂O₃)_(60-y) network were active at three composition-related IR spectral peaks that differed from those mixed with Samarium (III) oxide at high wavenumber ranges. These glass samples show that their permeability increased with the Samarium (III) oxide content increase. Additionally, the electronic transition between localized states was observed in the samples. The MAC, HVL, and Zeff values for radiation shielding parameters were calculated in the energy range of 0.015-15 MeV using the FLUKA algorithm. In addition, EBF, EABF, and Σ_R values were also determined for the prepared glasses. These values indicated that the parameters for shielding (MAC, HVL, Z_eff, EBF, EABF, and Σ_R) are dependent upon the Samarium (III) oxide content. Furthermore, the addition of Samarium (III) oxide to the examined glass samples greatly reinforced their shielding capacity against gamma photon. The findings of the current study were compared to analyses of the XCOM software, some concretes, and lead. In the experiment, it was found that the SMG0.6 glass sample was the strongest shield.

Keywords: MC simulation; Sm-B2O3 glass; optical property; radiation attenuation property.