Radiation Shielding Efficacy of Barium Oxide Doped Borosilicate Glass: Monte Carlo Simulation Study

Radiation is a type of energy that emitted from a source, transferred through space, and interacted by a material. Ionizing radiation can cause damaged for human health which lead to genetic mutations or even death. Shielding is one of the cardinal rules of radiation protection. Recently, different types of glass surged as a possible radiation shielding material. Borosilicate glass doped with high metal oxides increased the radiation shielding efficacy of the glass. The difficulty in performing the experimental work in terms of equipment availability as well as the validity of that work leads to the field of simulation and modelling. This study aims to simulate the measurement process of radiation shielding of bismuth- zinc-borosilicate glass, which is doped with different mole percentage (mol%) of barium oxide. Also, the radiation shielding efficiency is examined using three radioactive sources (99m Technetium, 137 Cesium, and 60 Cobalt). Using Geant4/ Gate simulation code, the energy deposited was incrementally decreased as the doping mol% of barium oxide increased from 0 – 15 mol%. The lowest energy deposited obtained with the highest doping percentage of barium oxide (15 mol%) and photon energy (1.332 MeV). This study validates an experimental study which suggest the use of barium oxide doped bismuth-zinc-borosilicate glass as a gamma shielding material.