Influence of V2O5 on the optical properties and radiation shielding performance of borate glass system containing Li2O and ZnO

Abstract

It is significant to investigate the photon transmission resilience of different glasses in order to identify the role played by each chemical unit therein and identify the radiation protection functionality of such glass systems. The role of V2O5 in dictating the optical and radiation transmission ability of (15-x)Li2O-70B(2)O(3)-15ZnO-xV(2)O(5) glasses is investigated in this report. Extensive optical parameters which include: molar refractivity (R-mol.), metallization criterion (M), molar polarizability (alpha(Mol.)), optical transmission (T-Opt.), static dielectric constant, epsilon(static), reflection loss (R-Loss)(,) and optical dielectric constant, epsilon(optical) of the studied glasses were theoretically calculated. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC)(g) of the investigated glasses for 15 keV to 15 MeV photons was simulated through the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation code and XCOM. Also, the fissile neutron removal cross section sigma(R) was estimated theoretically using the partial density method. Obtained results indicated that he R-mol. and alpha(Mol.) of the LBZV glasses were enhanced with increment in V2O5 concentration; increasing from 16.892 to 19.869 cm(2)/mol and 6.703 x 10(-24) to 7.885 x 10(-24) cm(3) respectively. Other estimated optical constants showed variations that appear to be strongly dictated by the amount of V2O5 in the glass chemistry. (MAC)(g )data from FLUKA simulations and XCOM calculations resonate well with each other. The (MAC)(g) lies in the limits of 0.02-13.418 cm2/g, 0.018-13.848 cm(2)/g, 0.020-14.182 cm(2)/g, 0.02-14.367 cm(2)/g, and 0.019-14.772 cm(2)/g for increasing V2O5 concentration. The absorption parameters show that the V2O5 plays a positive role in the ability of the glasses to absorb gamma photons.