Impact of Nb2O5 on radiation shielding properties of the bismuth-titanium-phosphate glasses

The glasses of the 45Na2O− 10Bi2O3 − (5-x)TiO2 −xNb2O5 − 40 P2O5 system with 0 ≤x ≤ 5 mol% have been prepared by using the melt quenching route. The structure of these obtained glasses was analyzed by examining the density and molar volume measurements. It was found that the density increased from 3.237 g/cm3 at x = 0 mol% to 3.559 g/cm3 at x = 5 mol%. But for the molar volume, there were two changes; the first is characterized by an increase in molar volume from 59.316 cm3/mol (x = 0) to 59.767 cm3/mol (x = 1), and the second one is distinguished by a decrease in molar volume from 59.767 cm3/mol (x = 1) to 56.562 cm3/mol (x = 5). The obtained densities have been investigated in order to examine the radiation shielding properties of these study glasses using Phy-X software. The linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) results demonstrated that the protecting potential of the formed phosphate glasses decreases dramatically as the energy is changed from 0.284 to 1.33 MeV. The effective atomic number (Zeff) was also evaluated and we found that the Zeff for the glass with 5 mol% of Nb2O5, is in the range of 14.16–23.87. For the glass with free Nb2O5, we reported the folloiwng values for Zeff: 23.82, 16.68, 14.64 and 13.86 at 0.284, 0.511, 0.826 and 1.33 MeV. The half value layer (HVL) is determined and we found that the thickness of the sample must be sleected less than 1.5 cm to effectively attenuate the photons with energy less than 0.511 MeV. The different shielding factors showed that the prepared samples have a potential for protection at lower energies that is significantly greater than its shields at higher energies. Also, the addition of Nb2O5 causes an enhancement in the radiation shielding performance.