Mechanic-elastic properties and radiation attenuation efficiency of TeO2/WO3/K2O composite glass systems for nuclear and medical application

Norah A M Alsaif; Z Y Khattari; Hesham M H Zakaly; Y S Rammah; Antoaneta Ene; M S Al-Buriahi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18912

Mechanic-elastic properties and radiation attenuation efficiency of TeO₂/WO₃/K₂O composite glass systems for nuclear and medical application

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 4;9(8):e18912. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18912. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Norah A M Alsaif¹, Z Y Khattari², Hesham M H Zakaly^{3

4

5}, Y S Rammah⁶, Antoaneta Ene⁷, M S Al-Buriahi⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, P. O. Box 330127, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan.
³ Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, 620002, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
⁴ Istinye University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Computer Engineering Department, Istanbul 34396, Turkey.
⁵ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, 71524, Egypt.
⁶ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, 32511, Shebin El Koom, Egypt.
⁷ 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.
⁸ Department of Physics, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey.

Abstract

WO₃ effects on neutron and ionizing radiation defending factors of ternary tellurite-based glass blocks with molecular formula 80TeO₂ -(20-x)WO₃ - xK₂O; x = 0-20 mol% (denoted as TKW-glass) has been reported via Phy-X theoretical calculations and Geant4 simulation code. Correlations between shielding factors and kinetics properties of the investigated glasses at different photon energy have been examined. The highest values of mass (MAC) attenuation coefficient were noted at 15 keV of the examined TKW-glass materials with the values of 38.408, 44.388, 49.855, 54.872, 59.492 cm²/g for TKW-0, TKW-5, TKW-10, TKW-15, and TKW-20, respectively. Generally, these values of the TKW-glasses obey the sequence: (TKW-0)_MAC< (TKW-5)_MAC < (TKW-10)_MAC < (TKW-15)_MAC < (TKW-20)_MAC. The highest mean free path (MFP) values of TKW-glasses were registered at 15 MeV with the values of 6.101, 5.591, 5.097, 4.647, and 4.302 cm for TKW-0, TKW-5, TKW-10, TKW-15, and TKW-20, respectively. The two parameters half value layer (HVL) and MFP follow the pattern: (TKW-0)_{HVL, MFP} > (TKW-5)_HVL,MFP > (TKW-10)_HVL,MFP > (TKW-15)_HVL,MFP > (TKW-20)_HVL,MFP. The maximum values of effective atomic number (EAN) took place at gamma energy of 15 keV corresponding to 44.35, 48.86, 52.63, 55.83, and 58.58 for TKW-0, TKW-5, TKW-10, TKW-15, and TKW-20, respectively. The trend of the buildup factors was similar for all of the glass specimens. The fast neutron removal cross-section ( $Σ_{R}$ ) enhanced as WO₃ content increased in the specimens. Thus, the peaked value of $Σ_{R}$ is 0.1059 cm^-1 was noted in the TKW-20 sample. Mechanical properties, neutron and γ-rays protection parameters were observed to improve with enhanced WO₃ mol% in the TKW-glasses. The current results bear their utilization for neutron and gamma protection purposes.

Keywords: Gamma-ray; Geant4 code; Mechanical properties; Neutron; Shielding parameters.