Significant influence of Cu content on the radiation shielding properties of Ge-Se-Te bulk glasses

Abstract

Bulk metallic glasses have attracted significant attention from researchers and material engineers for several applications. In this paper, we study the influence of Cu content on the radiation shielding properties xCu-(20-x) Ge-40Se-40Te (0 < x <= 20 at.%) bulk glasses. These bulk glassy samples are designed by utilizing FLUKA Monte Carlo based on their densities and chemical compositions. For x- and gamma-rays shielding studies, the mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) of the bulk glasses are obtained via photon beam transmission experiment performed based on FLUKA simulations. Furthermore, we evaluate the shielding characteristics of the involved glassy specimens against charged particles and neutrons beam. The obtained findings show that the trend of mu follows the pattern: CGST1 < CGST2 < CGST3 < CGST4 < CGST5 for x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20, respectively. However, this trend is more conspicuous in the photoelectric effect dominated energies due to the greater dependence of mu(pe) on the Z of the glasses. The present glassy samples show superior photon absorption capacity, especially CSGT5 sample, as compared to conventional shielding materials. Therefore, they can be deployed for nuclear shielding applications in space and other radiation environments.