article · Journal of Materials Research and Technology
Telluro-borate glasses modified with bismuth oxide have been synthesised through a melt-quenching technique to evaluate their potential for radiation protection. Analysis confirmed that the material maintains a stable, amorphous structure without surface agglomeration. Substituting boron oxide with bismuth oxide from zero to 15 mole percent lowered the glass transition temperature from approximately 590 °C to 530 °C. The incorporation of bismuth also shifted key mechanical properties, including the bulk, Young's, shear, and longitudinal moduli, as well as Poisson's ratio. Crucially, radiation testing at 0.511 MeV revealed that increasing the bismuth content to 15 mole percent nearly doubled the effective atomic number of the glass. The glass with the highest bismuth concentration demonstrated the strongest radiation-attenuation capability, presenting balanced thermal and structural behaviour.
Developing effective radiation-shielding materials is vital for safeguarding workers and equipment in nuclear and medical settings. Traditional shielding often relies on heavy, opaque barriers. Understanding how compositional adjustments alter the thermal stability, mechanical strength, and radiation absorption of novel glasses aids in creating robust, transparent barriers capable of protecting personnel from dangerous radiation exposure.
This research could enable advanced radiation-shielding materials for specialised construction and the nuclear industry. Potential users include manufacturers of protective viewports, hot-cell windows, and nuclear containment equipment. As the findings stem from laboratory-synthesised samples and baseline characterisation, the technology is at an early stage of development and will require industrial scale-up, structural testing, and regulatory qualification before commercial deployment.
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The radiation shielding properties of telluro-borate glasses have a great importance in nuclear industry. This work focused on the study of the glasses of the (70-x)B2O3–5TeO2–20SrO–5ZnO-xBi2O3 (with 0 ≤ x ≤ 15% mol%) system, which have been synthesized by the melt-quenching route. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed no agglomeration on glassy surfaces, which confirmed the amorphous state. The thermal differential analysis (DTA) showed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) decreased from 589.90 °C to 529.51 °C with replacing B2O3 mol% by Bi2O3 mol%. The mechanical properties of these glasses have been evaluated by investigation of the parameters, such as the bulk modulus (K), the Young's modulus (E), the shear modulus (S), the longitudinal modulus (L), and the Poisson coefficient, which are changed by Bi2O3 doping. The radiation shielding properties of these prepared glasses have been evaluated, and we reported the effective atomic number (Zeff) at 0.511 MeV. The results showed that the glass with x = 15% has the highest Zeff. We found that the Zeff is almost doubled when the concentration of Bi2O3 is increased from 0 mol% to 15 mol%. The findings provide a deeper understanding of the thermal, mechanical, and shielding properties of glass and have potential applications in areas such as construction and radiation protection.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.04.082
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