Gamma and neutron radiation shielding properties of Al₂O₃–B₂O₃–SiO₂–ZnO–BaO glasses

Abstract This study focused on developing new high-transparency, non-lead radiation shielding in barium zinc aluminum borosilicate glasses formulated as x BaO-17SiO 2 -(20- x ) ZnO–58B 2 O 3 –5Al 2 O 3 , where (0 ≤ x ≤ 12 mol %) of BaO. The density was measured according to Archimedes’ principle. Theoretical radiation shielding values were calculated with the Phy-X program. Findings revealed that the density and radiation shielding results increased as BaO increased. The Linear Attenuation coefficient (LAC), effective electron density (N eff ) effective atomic number (Z eq ), and electronic cross-section (ECS) variation as follow: G5 > G4 > G3 > G2 > G1. The Half value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) variation as follow: G1 > G2 > G3 > G4 > G5. Consequently, a shield with a higher BaO content has better attenuation properties. The study found that among the analyzed glass samples, the G5 sample offered the highest efficiency in radiation protection. This highlights the potential of the synthesized glasses as promising candidates for applications requiring efficient fast neutron attenuation.