Effect of bismuth and lithium substitution on radiation shielding properties of zinc borate glass system using Phy-X/PSD simulation

The radiation shielding properties of zinc borate glasses with lithium oxide replacing bismuth oxide were investigated using Phy-X/PSD. The glasses have a composition of (25-x)Bi2O3-60B(2)O(3)-15ZnO-xLi(2)O, where x = 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mol%, and are coded as S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 in increasing Li2O content. Phy-X/PSD was used to determine the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half value layer (HVL), effective atomic number (Z(eff)), tenth value layer (TVL), and mean free path (MFP) of the investigated glasses. S1 was found to have the greatest MAC and LAC values, 0.415 cm(2)/g and 1.868 cm(-1) at 0.2447 MeV respectively, while S5 had the least, 0.115 cm(2)/g and 0.301 cm(-1) respectively at the same energy. The maximum HVL values was found at 1.46 MeV and are equal to 2.926 cm, 3.427 cm, 3.766 cm, 4.159 cm, and 5.222 cm for S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 glasses, respectively. The minimum HVL values occurred at the lowest tested energy, 0.2447 MeV, and increased with increasing energy, meaning that the glasses are more effective at lower energies. The Zeff values inversely correlated with the Li2O content in the glasses, following the order of S1 > S2 > S3 > S4 > S5 at all energies. At 0.41 MeV, the Zeff values are equal to 25.15, 21.52, 17.42, 12.75, and 7.35 for S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 respectively. At all energies, TVL decreased with increasing density; for instance, decreasing from 17.347 cm to 9.718 cm when density increased from 2.613 g/cm(3) to 4.503 g/cm(3) at 1.458 MeV. The MFP of the zinc borate glasses were compared against other shielding glasses and it was found that the S1 glass outperformed five of the other glasses at 0.2447 MeV and six of the others at 1.458 MeV. The results proved that the S1 glass, the glass with the greatest Bi2O3 content and density, has the greatest potential for radiation shielding applications.