Uncovering the potential of ZnO and CaO in shielding and density enhancement for borate glass systems

• A new transparent glass system was fabricated for γ-ray shielding applications. • The substitution of B 2 O 3 by ZnO and CaO increases the density of prepared glasses. • The shielding factors were examined based on the experimental measurements. • The replacement of B 2 O 3 by ZnO and CaO enhances the linear attenuation coefficient. In the current work, the physical and radiation shielding properties for a glass system composed of (65-x-y) B 2 O 3 + 10BaO + 10Na 2 O+(10 + x) ZnO+(5 + y) CaO; x = y = 0, 5, 10, and 15 mol% were examined experimentally. The density of the prepared glass samples was examined using the Archimedes method, where the density of prepared samples increased between 3.126 ± 0.066 g/cm 3 and 3.731 ± 0.076 g/cm 3 when the B 2 O 3 compound was partially substituted by ZnO and CaO compounds. Additionally, the narrow beam transmission method and a 2″ × 2″ NaI (Tl) scintillation detector were utilized to measure the γ-ray shielding ability of prepared glass samples over an energy range of 0.662–1.332 MeV emitted by the radioactive sources Cs-137 and Co-60. The experimental measurements were also validated using the Monte Carlo simulation method. The difference between the two approaches is ±5 %. The measurements depict an enhancement in the linear attenuation coefficient with increasing the B 2 O 3 substitution by ZnO and Ca compounds. The linear attenuation coefficient increases by 17.83 %, 18.30 %, 18.22 %, and 18.14 % at 0.662 MeV, 1.173 MeV, 1.252 MeV, and 1.332 MeV, respectively, as ZnO + CaO rise across the concentration of 15 mol%–45 mol%.