Gamma ray shielding ability of Y³⁺ doped borophosphate glasses

Abstract Four selected Y 2 O 3 doped borophosphate glass samples are prepared using melt quench technique. The structural properties such as density and molar volume are measured. The density (ρ) increases from 3.1384 to 3.4613 g/cm 3 whereas molar volume (V m ) decreases from 60.84 to 55.00 cm 3 mol −1 with addition of Y 2 O 3 cm 3 mol −1 content. The lattice of the glasses has been tested via X-ray diffraction which is a good technique for confirming the structural properties of these glasses and FTIR spectra. In addition, radiation shielding parameters for glasses were performed theoretically utilizing XCOM program for various gamma ray energy and experimentally using NaI(Ti) scintillation detector, The glasses were irradiated using energies 0.664, 1.174 and 1.334 MeV emitted by Cs-137 and Co-60 radioactive point sources respectively. Shielding parameters as leaner (μ), mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) and half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL) and mean free path (MFP). The concentration of Y 2 O 3 increases the (μ/ρ) increases, the HVL, TVL, and MFP values have inverse way. Superior radiation shielding is confirmed by the glass sample containing (3%, mole) of yttrium oxide. The results show that the borophosphate glasses doped with Y 2 O 3 can be used to shield gamma rays.