Role of TeO 2 and Nd 2 O 3 on the Radiation Shielding Performance of TeO 2 –B 2 O 3 Glasses

This study aims to explore how the addition of TeO 2 and Nd 2 O 3 additions enhance gamma ray shielding of TeO 2 -B 2 O 3 -BaO-Nd 2 O 3 glass system. The Te18Nd0 glass’s (i.e. no Nd 2 O 3 ) transmission factor (TF) was tested at 0.964 MeV, finding a decreasing trend between TF and thickness. When the prepared glasses’ radiation protection efficiency (RPE) against thickness was evaluated, higher thicknesses were found to lead to an overall higher level of radiation shielding protection for all four samples. The TF of the glasses demonstrated that adding more TeO 2 and Nd 2 O 3 while reducing the glass system’s B 2 O 3 amount leads to less shielding transmission. The glasses’ RPEs were also tested between the Te18Nd0 and Te21Nd3 glass, the glass with the lowest and highest amounts of TeO 2 , respectively. Both glasses have an inverse trend between RPE and energy at all tested thicknesses. The RPE values for Te18Nd0 and Te21Nd3 samples at 0.245 MeV are equal to 0.264 and 0.299 for Te18Nd0 and Te21Nd3, respectively, while at 0.779 MV they are respectively equal to 0.112 and 0.122. The Z eff of the glasses demonstrated a downward trend with energy following the photoelectric effect and Compton scattering process. The MFP values showed that the Te21Nd3 sample had the most desirable MFP at all tested energies. When drawing a comparison of the glasses’ MAC values against several other previously tested glass systems, the current samples, and especially those with high amounts of TeO 2 and Nd 2 O 3 , were highly effective at attenuating incoming radiation.