Photon and electron attenuation parameters of phosphate and borate bioactive glasses by using Geant4 simulations

Abstract

This paper aims to study the photon and electron attenuation parameters of phosphate and borate bioactive glasses such as 45P(2)O(5)-55Li(2)O, 50P(2)O(5)-50Li(2)O, 55B(2)O(3)-45Li(2)O, and 2.6P(2)O(5)-46.1SiO(2)-24.4Li(2)O-26.9CaO. Geant4 toolkit was carried out to simulate the interactions of photon and electron with the glasses at medical diagnostic energies between 30 keV and 80 keV. The correct implementation of the simulation values was confirmed by using the corresponding values calculated from the Phy-X program. Photon attenuation studies were achieved by evaluating linear and mass attenuation coefficients (mu, mu/p), effective atomic number for total photon interaction (Z(eff)), and half value layer (HVL). Electron attenuation studies were investigated by determining the electron stopping power (psi) for each glass sample. Moreover, the mean energy deposited (dE/dx) in the glass sample was estimated for photon and electron interactions. The results showed that the chemical composition of the glass has a strong influence on the photon interactions and weak influence on the electron interactions. Furthermore, the maximum dE/dx values were observed at 30 keV and 80 keV for the photon interactions and electron interactions, respectively.