Effects of Er2O3 doping on the physical properties and gamma/neutron shielding performance of borate-tellurite glasses: PHITS Monte Carlo simulations

Abstract

Presently, there have been consistent research towards designing and testing of novel materials with high radiation shielding potential. This present study investigates the effects of Erbium oxide (Er₂O₃) doping on the physical and radiation shielding features of mixed telluro-borate glasses containing B₂O₃–TeO₂–PbO–BaO–Bi₂O₃-xEr₂O₃, (with x = 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mol %). The produced glasses (BTE0.5, BTE1 and BTE2) were studied for their physical and radiation shielding properties. The results showed that the density of the glasses increased from 3.97 to 4.25 g/cm³, while molar volume decreased from 4.25 to 3.95 cm³/mol at increasing Er₂O₃ addition from 0.5 to 2.0 mol %. The measured mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) validated by XCOM and PHITS (with no significant difference between the two validated data) showed that MAC values generally increased from BTE0.5 to BTE2 at all energy levels between 0.015 and 15 MeV. This suggest that increasing Er₂O₃ in the BTE composition enhanced shielding effectiveness. Sample BTE2 exhibited lowest half-value layer (HVL) followed by BTE1 and BTE0.5 at lower energies, which indicates that increasing Er₂O₃ content improves shielding efficiency at low energies. However, at increased photon energies, the differences in the samples decline, suggesting that all the samples (BTE0.5, BTE1 and BTE2) are likewise effective for high-energy radiation shielding. The fast neutron removal cross-section (Σ_R) also improves at increasing Er₂O₃ content with values ranged from 0.10235, 0.10374, and 10672 cm⁻¹ for BTE0.5, BTE1, and BTE2, respectively. In the overall, sample BTE containing higher Er₂O₃ content (BTE2) showed promising properties comparable with other shielding materials highlighting its potential for gamma/neutron shielding applications.