Shielding Performance Assessment of B2O3-Bi2O3-Zno-Li2O Glasses for Gamma Radiation

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of B2O3-Bi2O3-ZnO-Li2O glass compounds as shielding materials for gamma rays. Monte Carlo simulation was used to evaluate the attenuation parameters of the glass compounds in the energy range of 200-1500 keV. The objective of this research was to assess the ability of a new shield material, composed of B, Bi, Zn, Li, and O elements, to protect against high-energy gamma rays. The mean free path (MFP), half-value layer (HVL), mass, and linear attenuation coefficient (MAC and LAC) of the glass shield were calculated using MC simulation. The simulation results were compared to data from the XCOM database for validation. The glass sample composition was 15B2O3-50Bi2O3-(35-x)ZnO-xLi2O borosilicate glasses, where x represents the mole percentage (x = 15, 10, 5, 0). The densities of the composites were 5.45 (x=15), 5.66 (x=10), 5.83 (x=5), and 5.98 (x=0). The results showed a relative percentage error (RPE) of less than 4% for the four energy levels between 200 and 1500 keV. Moreover, both the LAC and MAC increased with higher Li2O content in the compound. Analysis based on HVL and MFP indices indicated that the glass sample with 15 mole percentage of Li2O exhibited superior shielding properties compared to the other samples.