Praseodymium oxide effects on radiation shielding features of tellurite-germanate-borate glass: experimental investigation

Abstract This paper synthesizes three different types of transparent glasses by utilizing the melt-quenching process, which is essential to address the ionizing radiation issues that can cause severe damage to humans. The chemical formula of the fabricated glass series is described by xPr 6 O 11 + 20TeO 2 + 10GeO 2 + (35-x) B 2 O 3 + 35MgO, where x = 1.25, 2.5, and 3.75 mol%. In addition, we investigate the radiation shielding capabilities of synthesized glasses using a (5.08 cm × 5.08 cm) NaI (Tl) scintillation detector over an energy range for the gamma-ray, which is varied between 0.662 and 1.173 MeV. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the radiation shielding. Besides, to further validate our experiment, we compare the experiment measurement with simulated results. The results show an excellent agreement between the measurement and simulation, which is based on linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) for the synthesized glasses across various ranges, which are given by ±3 %. The measurements depict that the LAC for synthesized glasses is raised from 0.290 ± 0.013 to 0.303 ± 0.015 cm −1 , when the Pr 2 O 3 content rises from 1.25 to 3.75 mol%, respectively.