Enhancing radiation shielding transmission factors and mechanical Robustness of borosilicate glasses through Bi2O3 modification: A comprehensive study

The mechanical behavior and gamma radiation attenuation features of borosilicate glasses with chemical compositions 16ZnO–8BaO-5.5SiO2-0.5Sb2O3-(70-x)B2O3/xBi2O3 are extensively investigated. Makishima-Mackenzie principle, Monte Carlo code, and Phy-X/PSD software are utilized in terms of determining these properties. Our results showed that the total packing density (Vt) decreased from 0.634851 to 0.571458, while the total dissociation energy increased from 26.612 (kJ/cm3) to 29.652 (kJ/cm3) for S1-glass (with 10 mol% of Bi2O3) and S5-glass (with 30 mol% Bi2O3). All elastic moduli are enhanced by increasing the Bi2O3 additive in the investigated glasses. Poisson's ratio was decreased from 0.281226 for S1-glass to 0.256957 for S5-glass. In terms of gamma-ray shielding parameters; linear (μ) and mass attenuation (μm) coefficients for the rich glass sample with B2O3 (S5) possess the highest values among all investigated (S1–S5) samples. The glass sample S5 is reported with the lowest values of tenth (TVL) and half (HVL) value layers among all studied glasses. In addition, the exposure (EBF) and energy absorption (EABF) bulidup factors were decreased with increasing the amount of Bi2O3 reinforcement for mean free path values from 0.5 to 40 mfp. The lowest possible levels of attenuation (minimum transmission) were measured at a thickness of 3 cm for all of the glass samples.