A theoretical investigation of PbO Doped B 2 O 3 ‐SiO 2 ‐ZrO 2 ‐Li 2 WO 4 ‐Eu 2 O 3 glass system

In present study, theoretical shielding performance of borosilicate glasses with composition (65 − x)B 2 O 3 –10SiO 2 –10ZrO 2 –10Li 2 WO 4 –5Eu 2 O 3 –xPbO (x = 0 mol‐%, 2.5 mol‐%, 5 mol‐%, 7.5 mol‐%, and 10 mol‐%) against gamma radiation was investigated. The effect of presence of different proportion of PbO in the borosilicate glass system with high chemical and thermal stability, the radiation attenuation capacity of the glasses was investigated. The shielding parameters of the glasses for gamma ray of energies 356 keV, 662 keV, 1173 keV, and 1333 keV were calculated using MCNP6.2, PHITS Monte Carlo Simulation codes, and retrieved from XCOM theoretical database. As a results of the study, it was observed that density of the glasses, mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) and linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) values increased with the increase in PbO doping. Due to photoelectric interaction dominance in low gamma energy region the Pb element with high atomic number played an active role in glass. MCNP and PHITS simulation results showed high consistency when compared with XCOM data. The findings revealed that PbO enriched borosilicate glasses can be used as effective radiation shielding materials, especially in areas such as medical imaging, nuclear power plants and space applications.