THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION FOR YTTERBIUM EFFECT ON RADIATION SHIELDING CHARACTERISTICS OF 50Bi2O3-15Li2O-15PbO-(20-X)B2O3-Yb2O3 BORATE GLASSES

As the nuclear industry has developed and radiation technologies have become more widely used, the dose of radiation from both synthetically produced sources and radioisotopes has increased, as has the number of people being irradiated. It is of the utmost importance to utilise appropriate shielding materials in order to reduce the negative effects of radiation sources. Doped glasses are among the most significant candidate materials in the field of radiation shielding. To this end, it was aimed to investigate the charged particle, gamma-ray and neutron shielding characteristics of ytterbium doped glasses with composition of 50Bi2O3-15Li2O-15PbO-(20-x)B2O3-Yb2O3 (where x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5). In this regard, the radiation shielding parameters were estimated by using Phy-X/PSD, PAGEX, ESTAR, and SRIM codes. Furthermore, the results were compared comprehensively and comparatively. Charged particle (alpha, proton and electron), gamma ray and neutron shielding efficiencies were found to be proportional to ytterbium content. The glasses with the increasing amount of ytterbium exhibited higher shielding performances. It can be said that all the studied glasses and particularly Yb2.5 sample could be used as shielding materials in many radiation related applications.