A promising alternative: a pathway to superior mechanical and radiation shielding performance of Na2O-B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3-TiO2 glass system

In this study, a series of new glass samples with the composition (\(15-x\)) Na₂O-67B₂O₃-13SiO₂-5Al₂O₃-\(x\) TiO₂, where x = 0:10 mol% were manufactured. The density (\(\rho\)) increased with the increase in TiO₂ concentration due to its higher molecular weight. This increase in (\(\rho\)) correspondingly enhanced the longitudinal \({V}_{L}\), transverse \({V}_{T}\) velocities and elastic moduli, including longitudinal (L), transverse (G), bulk (K), and Young’s (Y) moduli. \({V}_{L}\) increased from 4980 to 5455 while \({V}_{T}\) rose from 2685 to 2915 m/s. Similarly, the values of L, G, K, and Y (GPa) exhibited consistent upward trends, ranging from 71.82 to 128.8, 20.88 to 36.75, 44 to 79.7, and 54.16 to 95.6, respectively. The results showed that increasing TiO₂ content inside the composite enhances the shielding ability against ionizing radiation. The shielding ability of BSTi-10 > BSTi-7.5 > BSTi-5 > BSTi-2.5 > BSTi-0 at all discussed energy photons. Future work will focus on optimizing the glass composition for enhanced mechanical and shielding properties while evaluating the glasses’ long-term durability and performance under various environmental and irradiation conditions.