TeO2-TiO2-ZnO glasses: potential use in radiation protection

Abstract

This paper examines the utility of some newly developed tellurite-based glasses in the form of (100-x-y)TeO2-xTiO(2)-yZnO, where (x, y)=(5,10), (5,30), (10,10), (10,15), (15,5), and (15,10) mol% for potential use in radiation protection applications. Mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho) which is an essential parameter to study the radiation shielding properties was obtained for each proposed glass using GEANT4 toolkit for photon energies 1 keV-10 MeV. The simulation values were compared with the theoretical ones calculated by WinXCOM program. The obtained mu/rho results were then utilized to calculate all the other important radiation shielding parameters such as mean free path, effective atomic number (Z(eff)), and half-value layer for the glasses involved. Additionally, neutrons shielding properties in the terms of removal cross section were computed for each glass. The results reveal that the proposed glasses show the best shielding features against both gamma-ray and neutrons as compared with some commercial glasses, concretes, and HMO glasses. TeO2-TiO2-ZnO glasses would be useful for various radiation protection applications, especially those related to exposure control.