Comparative simulations study of radiations shielding properties of 69P2O5–10Gd2O3/10GdF3–10BaO–10ZnO–1Er2O3 glasses

Abstract

Abstract We study the theoretical and simulated shielding properties of 69P2O5–10Gd2O3–10BaO–10ZnO–1Er2O3 and 69P2O5–10GdF3–10BaO–10ZnO-1Er2O3 glasses. We exploit advanced simulation (MCNPX) and Phy-X, an online Photon Shielding and Dosimetry software, in the 0.001–15 MeV energy range, to calculate the linear attenuation coefficient and mass attenuation coefficients of the samples. The obtained mass attenuation coefficient is then used to calculate the critical radiation shielding characteristics, such as the half-value layer, mean free path, tenth value layer, and effective atomic number. The calculated LAC values range from 108.759 to 0.097 and from 84.124 to 0.087 cm−1 while HVL values range from 0.006 to 7.164 and from 0.008 to 8.013 cm, and MFP values vary from 0.009 to 10.335 and from 0.012 to 11.561 cm for ZBaOEr and ZBaFEr, respectively, with energy ranging from 0.015 to 15 MeV. We find that the results obtained from MCNPX and Phy-X are consistent with each other, based on the computed relative difference. The glass sample containing Gd2O3 exhibits better shielding properties than the one with GdF3, over the entire energy range. Our examined glass samples are thick enough to substantially lessen the intensity of incident X-rays and gamma rays.