Radiation shielding properties of selenium-based lead borate PbO-SeO2-B2O3 glass for X-ray and gamma radiation

The radiation shielding properties of selenium-based lead borate glass systems xSeO₂ + (25-x) B₂O₃ + 75PbO (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) were investigated using the MCNPx simulation and the Phy-x/PSD program in the energy range of 0.015–15 MeV. The density increased with the substitution of SeO₂ contents due to the replacement of B₂O₃ (69.62 g/mol) by SeO₂ (110.96 g/mol) in the host glass, enhancing the glass compactness. In addition, the Se²⁺ takes up substitute regions in the structure, which lowers the molar volume and contributes to stiffness and stability. The samples' mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) and linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) decreased with increasing energy. As energy increases, more radiation penetrates, leading to a decrease in the MAC and LAC. At 0.1 MeV, the MAC values for the S4 sample, with a density of 5.702 g/cm³, are 4.68552 cm²/g, whereas at 0.5 MeV, they are 0.14928 cm²/g, indicating more attenuation with increasing energy. The HVL ranges from 0.00129 to 2.41029 cm, while the TVL ranges from 0.00429 to 8.00682 cm, respectively. The S1 glass exhibited higher HVL values, whereas the S4 sample showed the lowest HVL values, indicating it is the most effective attenuation glass. The effective atomic number (Z_eff) varies randomly with energy, representing different photon-matter interactions in specific energy ranges. The S4 glass exhibits the highest value of Z_eff at 15 MeV, ranging from 79.65085 to 52.07709. The results confirm that the investigated glass samples can be a radiation shielding material for X-rays rooms and γ-rays in medicine, cosmology, hospitals, and nuclear physics.