Lead Borate Glass Series for Radiation Shielding Applications: The Influence of CaO, BaO and ZnO on Optical, Mechanical, and Radiation Shielding Properties

This work examines the BaO, ZnO and CaO metal oxides' role in lead borate glasses' mechanical, optical and radiation shielding performance. Using the melting–quenching method at 1100°C, the lead borate glass system was fabricated. According to the Makishima–Makinze model, the most elevated mechanical properties were for the glass samples with CaO additives, including elastic moduli, hardness and bond strength. On the other hand, the glass samples with BaO additives achieved the lowest mechanical properties, while the ZnO compound glasses had intermediate glass former and modifier properties. Furthermore, the fabricated glasses' optical property measurements confirmed that the glass samples with ZnO additives had the lowest refractive index, 2.306, while the CaO‐containing glasses had a refractive index of 2.617. The impact of various metal oxides (BaO, CaO and ZnO) on the fabricated glasses' shielding performance was examined using the Monte Carlo simulation code along the energy interval of 0.02–10 MeV. The glass samples with BaO additives have the highest LACs among the investigated glasses, which decreased from 132.135 to 0.140 cm −1 when the γ‐ray energy rose between 0.02 and 10 MeV.