Surveying of Na2O3-BaO-PbO-Nb2O5-SiO2-Al2O3 glass-ceramics system in terms of alpha, proton, neutron and gamma protection features by utilizing GEANT4 simulation codes

Abstract

In this study, nuclear shielding qualities of glass-ceramics with chemical composition Na2O3 -BaO-PbO-Nb2O5-SiO2-Al2O3 containing different amount of BaO and PbO were investigated. The mu(p) values were simulated using GEANT4 toolkit at 0.015-20 MeV wide energy range and the obtained results were verified by theoretical WinXCOM results. The variables such as mu(p) , HVL, MFP, Z(eff), N-eff, EBF and EABF were computed to determine the gamma-ray shielding performances of studied glass ceramics. The results revealed that increase in PBO and BaO percentages in glass samples has caused to decrease the HVL, MFP, EBF and EABF values and increase mu(p) , Z(eff) values. It has been seen that N28 and S24 samples own superior protection ability against gamma radiation. In addition, the shielding capacity of these glass ceramics against charged and uncharged particles were predicted by determination of MSP and PR values for alpha, proton and Sigma R values for neutrons. It has been concluded that PbO and BaO addition improve radiation shielding competences of glass ceramics. The data obtained from this study will be beneficial for designing glass ceramics shields for radiation protection enforcements.