Effect of replacing SiO2 with Sb2O3, Bi2O3, and Fe2O3 on the radiation shielding properties of lead sodium aluminum silicate glass

Abstract

In this research, the radiation shielding coefficients for gamma rays were studied resulting from the addition of iron oxide (Fe₂O₃), antimony oxide (Sb₂O₃), and bismuth oxide (Bi₂O₃) to lead sodium aluminum silicate glass using the PHY-X/PSD simulation program at different energies (0.248, 0.347, 0.662, 0.826, 1.17, 1.33, 2.51 MeV) for four experimental compositions according to weight ratios: S1: 60 Pb₃O₄ − 32 SiO₂ − 3 Al₂O₃ − 5 Na₂SO₄, S2: 60 Pb₃O₄ − 29 SiO₂ − 3 Fe₂O₃ − 3 Al₂O₃ − 5 Na₂SO₄, S3: 60 Pb₃O₄ − 29 SiO₂ − 3 Sb₂O₃ − 3 Al₂O₃ −5 Na₂SO₄, S4: 60 Pb₃O₄ − 29 SiO₂ − 3 Bi₂O₃ − 3 Al₂O₃ − 5 Na₂SO₄. The results of PHY-X/PSD showed that sample S4 containing bismuth oxide had the best attenuation coefficients at all energies as compared to the other samples, followed by samples S2 and S3 containing iron oxide and antimony oxide, respectively, with approximately the same values of radiation shielding coefficients, and finally sample S1 without additives came. The X-COM results also showed that the photoelectric effect was effective at low energies, represented by the two values 0.248 and 0.347 MeV, while the Compton effect works strongly at medium energies, represented by the values of 0.662, 0.826, and 1.17 MeV, while the effect of pair production begins to appear at approximately 1.33 MeV, and its effect continues to increase as the energy value increases.