Heavy metal oxide (HMO) glasses as an effective member of glass shield family: A comprehensive characterization on gamma ray shielding properties of various structures

Abstract

Using advanced Monte Carlo simulation techniques and theoretical methodologies, a thorough investigation on the gamma-ray shielding properties of several heavy metal oxide glasses were performed. The general-purpose Monte Carlo code MCNPX (version 2.7.0) was used to simulate gamma-ray transmission to determine fundamental attenuation coefficients. The acquired findings were compared to Phy-X/PSD to confirm that the outputs were consistent. Additionally, other gamma-ray shielding parameters were computed and studied throughout a broad photon energy range of 0.015 MeV–15 MeV. From A to F glass samples, a sharp density increase from 5.99 g/cm3 to 8.9 g/cm3 was found. As a result, the F sample was found to have the highest linear attenuation coefficients. Our results indicate that increasing the amount of Bi reinforcement improved the material's overall gamma-ray attenuation properties. The F sample with the highest Bi reinforcement in its glass structure was subsequently shown to have superior gamma-ray shielding characteristics. Finally, we compared the F sample's half-value layer values to those of other commercial glass shields, various concretes, and other glass shields investigated in the literature. As a consequence of the benchmarking procedure, it has been determined that the F sample has better shielding capabilities than other shielding materials. It can be concluded that heavy metal oxide glasses offer apparent benefits in terms of more efficiently attenuating incoming gamma-rays. Additionally, it can be concluded that applying high Bi to heavy metal oxide glasses is a beneficial strategy for improving the gamma-ray attenuation capabilities of heavy metal oxide glasses. © 2022 The Author(s)