Gamma-ray shielding properties for silicate glasses containing Bi2O3, PbO, and BaO

Introduction: With the extensive application of radiation sources and radioactive materials in various fields, the study of attenuation and absorption of X-rays and gamma-rays in several materials has become an essential and interesting field of research. Glass materials are possible alternatives of concretes for radiation-shielding materials.   Materials and Methods: The mass attenuation coefficients (µm), effective atomic cross section (σa), effective atomic number (Zeff) and effective electron density (Neff) of silicate glasses containing different concentrations of Bi2O3, PbO, and BaO (30–70% by weight) were obtained using MCNP-4C code, XCOM and XMuDat programs, in the energy range of 10 keV–10 MeV. The interpolation method was employed to extract Zeff and Neff. The Auto-Zeff software was used to determine the Zeff as well.   Results: The MCNP-4C Code, XCOM and XMuDat programs and Auto-Zeff results were in good agreement. It was found that the µm and σa values decrease with photon energy. Also the results indicate that σa and Zeff of glasses improve by increasing their Bi2O3, PbO and BaO contents, while increasing these contents to the same fraction has no significant effect on µm in the energy range of 0.3–5 MeV, where the Compton Effect takes over as dominant process and Neff do not follow certain rule. Above 0.1 MeV, lead oxide silicate glass showed the highest values of Zeff and σa. Conclusion: Observed good agreement indicates that the chosen Monte Carlo code and computer programs may be useful to calculate the gamma-ray shielding characteristics of different glass systems, particularly in cases where no experimental data exist.