Evaluation of radiation shielding performance in thallium borotellurite glasses

Objective To evaluate the impact of Neodymium(III) chloride (NdCl 3 ) doping on the gamma radiation shielding performance of borotellurite glasses with nominal compositions in the system 65B 2 O 3 –12.5Tl 2 O–12.5TeO 2 –(10− x )Na 2 O– x NdCl 3 (where x = 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 wt% of NdCl 3 ), introduced via NdCl 3 precursor. Methods Glass batches were calculated by replacing Na 2 O wt% with NdCl 3 on an equimolar oxygen basis relative to NdCl 3 . The BTTLNN series—namely BTTLNN0, BTTLNN1, BTTLNN2, BTTLNN5, and BTTLNN10—has nominal NdCl 3 equivalent concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 wt%, respectively.. All compositions were simulated for gamma shielding properties. Their radiation attenuation parameters were computed using the Geant4 toolkit across a broad energy range (15 keV to 10 MeV), with results validated against Phy-X software. Key metrics analyzed included mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), tenth-value layer (TVL), radiation protection efficiency (RPE), and effective atomic number ( Z eff ). Results The mass attenuation coefficient increased directly with NdCl 3 concentration, with a pronounced difference of 0.048,26 cm 2 /g at 0.15 MeV between the lowest and highest NdCl 3 contents. Increased density (3.84–4.02 g/cm 3 ) and improved attenuation corresponded with decreasing HVL, TVL, and RPE. Z eff peaked at specific energies (e.g., 85.53 keV) before declining at higher energies, consistent with MAC trends. In the BTTLNN series—namely BTTLNN0, BTTLNN1, BTTLNN2, BTTLNN5, and BTTLNN10—the shielding performance gradually increases with increasing NdCl 3 content. Comparative analysis confirmed the sample with 10 wt% NdCl 3 (BTTLNN10) exhibited the highest attenuation and lowest HVL among the series and outperformed several reference shielding materials. Conclusion Doping with NdCl 3 significantly enhances the gamma radiation shielding effectiveness of the base borotellurite glass. The findings demonstrate that NdCl 3 incorporation is a viable and novel strategy for engineering advanced heavy-metal oxide glasses with superior radiation shielding properties.