Gamma radiation shielding study of tellurite glasses containing V2O5 and Bi2O3 using Geant4 code

• Published in: Ceramics international 2020-12, Vol.46 (18), p.28870-28876
• Main Authors: Hendi, A.A., Rashad, M., Sayyed, M.I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Geant4; Radiation; Shielding; Tellurite glasses
• ISSN: 0272-8842
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.08.053

Geant4 simulation was used to study the radiation shielding properties of TeO2–V2O5–Bi2O3 glass systems. The lowest mass attenuation factor occurred at 2.506 MeV (varied between 0.0383 and 0.0394 cm2 g-1) and the highest mass attenuation factor occurred at 0.284 MeV (between 0.1538 and 0.2183 cm2 g-1). The results revealed that the shielding parameters highly depended on the amount of Bi2O3, and the transmission factor (TF) decreased as Bi2O3 increased from 5 to 25 w. t%. The TF values at 0.284 MeV for a thickness of 1 cm of the TeVBi5, TeVBi10, TeVBi15, TeVBi20 and TeVBi25 glasses were 51%, 44%, 38%, 32% and 27% respectively. From the half value layer results, TeVBi5 had the highest HVL and hence the worst shielding. The best attenuation was reported for TeVBi25, which had the highest content of Bi2O3 and the highest density (ρ = 6.031 g/cm3). Also, from the HVL results, a small thickness of any sample can provide adequate protection for photons with low energy (i.e. 0.284, 0.347 and 0.511 MeV), whereas a thicker width is needed to provide protection from photons with energies larger than 0.826 MeV. The results showed that there was an increase in the tenth value layer for all of the TeVBi5–TeVBi25 glasses as the energy of the photons increased. At 0.284 MeV, the TVL for the samples with 5 and 25 w. t% of Bi2O3 are 3.4174 and 1.7470 cm. The TVL results confirmed that the shielding performance of the tested samples was enhanced when the Bi2O3 content increased from 5 to 25 w. t %.