article · Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences
New glass materials containing bismuth oxide, strontium fluoride, lithium oxide, and copper oxide were fabricated to assess their optical and radiation attenuation properties. Increasing the copper oxide content from 0 to 8 mole percent raised the density of the glasses from 3.2836 to 3.5424 grams per cubic centimetre. This compositional change reduced the optical energy band gap from 3.04 electronvolts to 2.52 electronvolts, while lowering the metallisation criterion and enhancing the nonlinear refractive index. In terms of shielding performance, adding copper oxide consistently boosted both the linear and mass attenuation coefficients against ionising radiation, which in turn decreased the half-value layer values. Furthermore, the partial density of boron and the total interaction cross sections for thermal neutrons, including coherent, incoherent, and absorption cross sections, all increased alongside higher copper oxide concentrations.
Effective radiation shielding is essential for safety in nuclear, industrial, and medical environments. Traditional protective materials can be cumbersome or opaque, making the development of functional glasses with high density and strong attenuation capabilities valuable. Understanding how additives such as copper oxide simultaneously alter optical transparency and neutron absorption helps guide the design of multi-functional protective barriers.
The findings could inform the development of transparent radiation shielding materials for medical imaging facilities, nuclear laboratories, or optical equipment operating in radiation environments. Potential end users include manufacturers of protective optical viewing windows and radiation shielding products. Given that the abstract details laboratory-scale synthesis and property measurements, this technology represents early-stage materials research that requires mechanical validation and processing scale-up before real-world adoption.
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This research paper reports on the optical characteristics and ionizing radiation attenuation properties of newly fabricated 55B 2 O 3 + 10Bi 2 O 3 + 20SrF 2 + (15-x)Li 2 O + xCuO where x = 0 (Cu0) - 8 (Cu8) in steps of 2 mol%. Density of the fabricated glasses was increased from 3.2836 g cm −3 to 3.5424 g cm −3 as CuO concentration enriched from 0 to 8 mol%. The estimated indirect E g values were 3.04, 2.93, 2.86, 2.61 and 2.52 eV for the Cu0, Cu2, Cu4, Cu6 and Cu8 glass samples, respectively. Metallization criterion (M) has the following values 0.39, 0.38, 0.37, 0.36 and 0.35 for the Cu0, Cu2, Cu4, Cu6, and Cu8 glass samples, respectively. The nonlinear refractive index (n 2 ) values were improved with further CuO content. Comparatively, μ m follows the order: Cu0 < Cu2 < Cu4 < Cu6 < Cu8. The range of μ for Cu0 – Cu8 was 0.1076–7.5351, 0.1089–7.5721, 0.1108–7.6563, 0.1133–7.7761, 0.1163–7.9218 cm −1 , correspondingly. The range of the HVL is 0.0920–6.3676, 0.0915–6.3676, 0.09053–6.254, 0.0891–6.1156, and 0.0875–5.9624 cm for Cu0 – Cu8, respectively. The partial density of B enhanced from 0.34106 to 0.3556 cm −1 as CuO mol% raised from 2 to 8 mol%. The total cross section for coherent (σ coh ), incoherent (σ inc ), absorption (σ abs ), and total interaction (σ tot ) of thermal neutrons in the glasses grow with CuO content.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.jrras.2023.100676
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