article · Annals of Nuclear Energy
This research evaluates the physical, mechanical, and gamma-ray shielding characteristics of glass composed of boron trioxide, copper oxide, titanium dioxide, calcium oxide, and zinc oxide. Increasing the concentration of zinc oxide in these glasses raises their density from 3.460 to 3.933 grams per cubic centimetre and reduces molar volume. Mechanical strength also improves, with increases observed across Young, bulk, shear, and longitudinal elastic moduli. Testing of radiation attenuation across sample thicknesses from 0.5 to 4 centimetres reveals that both greater thickness and higher zinc oxide content reduce radiation transmission and enhance protection efficiency. The glass formulation containing the highest concentration of zinc oxide, labelled Zn20, achieves the greatest gamma-photon radiation shielding performance at a thickness of 4 centimetres, exhibiting superior attenuation when compared with established shielding materials.
Developing effective radiation shielding materials is essential for protecting personnel and equipment in nuclear, medical, and industrial environments where gamma radiation is present. By systematically demonstrating that adding zinc oxide enhances both structural stiffness and radiation attenuation, this study identifies a viable composition for durable, high-density glass alternatives to traditional shielding materials.
This work relates to gamma-ray shielding applications, potentially relevant to manufacturers of radiation protection equipment, nuclear facility components, or medical imaging rooms. Because the study focuses on laboratory-scale characterisation of material properties and thickness variations, the technology appears to be at an early stage of development, requiring further engineering scale-up, cost analysis, and operational testing before potential commercial deployment.
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The density (ρ) of the B 2 O 3 -CuO-TiO 2 -CaO-ZnO glasses increases from 3.460 ± 0.001 to 3.933 ± 0.001 g/cm 3 and the molar volume (V m ) reduces from 20.626to 18.594 cm 3 /mol with increase in the ZnO concentration. The elastic moduli are found to increase from 52.592 to 58.84 GPa, 39.909 to 45.414 GPa, 21.885 to 24.392 GPa and 69.089 to 77.937 GPa for the Young modulus (E), bulk modulus (B), shear modulus (G) and longitudinal modulus (L) respectively with increase in ZnO concentration. The shielding parameters are found to vary with the chemical composition of the samples.The variation of transmission factor (TF) and radiation protection efficiency (RPE) has been studied for the different thicknesses of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 cm respectively. The thickness of the samples is doubled in each step and it is observed that the TF decreases by 0.92 %, 1.83 % and 2.75 % for the Zn5 sample; 1.83 %, 3.63 % and 5.41 % for the Zn10 sample; 3.63 %, 7.12 % and 10.54 % for the Zn15 sample and 7.12 %, 13.74 % and 19.96 % for the Zn20 sample respectively with respect to the 0.5 cm thickness of the respective samples. It is concluded that the higher ZnO content and increased thickness consistently improve attenuation, particularly evident in Zn20 glass at 4 cm thickness, which offers the most effective shielding against γ-photon radiation. The shielding effectiveness of the Zn20 is also compared to the already existing shielding materials.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111790
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