Impact of doping Te^2+ in B₂ O₃ -ZnO-CaO glasses for radiation shielding enhancement experimental evaluation

In this investigation, a novel glass system was fabricated via melt quenching. Effect of adding TeO₂ on the composition (40-x) B₂ O₃ + (15 + x + y) TeO₂ + 25ZnO + (20-y) CaO was studied, where x = 0, 2, 4, 6 mol % and y = 0, 3, 6, and 9 mol % in order to give four fabricated glasses coded by BTZC-1, BTZC-2, BTZC-3, and BTZC-4, respectively. The densities were measured by Archimedes' principle and were 3700, 3860, 4015, and 4166 gcm^-3, respectively, due to the increasing additives of TeO₂. The attenuation properties of the synthesized glass were determined experimentally and theoretically at four energies 0. 060, 0. 662, 1. 173, and 1. 333 MeV. A germanium detector was used as a spectrometer, and theoretically the Phy-X software was used, with the findings in agreement between the two techniques. For the BTZC-1 glass at 0. 059 MeV, the linear attenuation coefficient was 7. 512 cm^-1 using the experimental approach and 7. 975 cm^-1 via Phy-X. The maximum linear attenuation coefficient values were 7. 975, 9. 826, 11. 622, and 13. 368 cm^-1, respectively for BTZC-1, BTZC-2, BTZC-3 and BTZC-4 at 0. 060 MeV, with minimum values of 0. 194, 0. 201, 0. 207, and 0. 214 cm^-1 at 1. 333 MeV.