Fabrication of lithium borosilicate glasses containing Fe2O3 and ZnO for FT-IR, UV–Vis–NIR, DTA, and highly efficient shield

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Materials science & processing, 2022-04, Vol.128 (4), Article 333
• Main Authors: Shaaban, Kh. S., Alotaibi, B. M., Alharbiy, Nuha, El-Rehim, A. F. Abd
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; Borosilicate glass; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Gamma rays; Iron; Lithium; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Molar volume; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Radiation; Radiation shielding; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-022-05474-4

We examine the availability of lithium iron borosilicate glasses doped with ZnO as radiation shielding attenuators; for this, a glass system 64.8B 2 O 3 – 8.5SiO 2 – 1.5Fe 2 O 3 – 25.2 - x Li 2 O— x ZnO x = (0 ≤ x  ≤ 16 mol. %) has been fabricated utilizing melt quenching procedures. As the increase in ZnO density increment from 2.77 to 4.47 g/cm 3 and molar volume decrement 21.71 to 16.03 cm 3  mol −1 , respectively. DTA parameters were improved after the incorporation of ZnO into the glass matrix. FT-IR revealed that BO 3 converts into BO 4 after ZnO is integrated & the structure stiffens as the coherence of the glass network improves. To investigate the impact of ZnO on the optical characterizations of glassy specimens were measured in the ultraviolet–visible, & NIR range. The range of the optical energy increases from 2.88 eV to 3.68 eV, while E u decreases from 0.347 eV to 0.272 eV. The radiation shielding specifications of the glass system were also calculated by Phy-X code. The Lithium iron borosilicate glasses doped with ZnO appeared to be transparent to the visible range and to have good gamma-ray and neutron shielding features, according to the obtained outcomes.