Synthesis of glass powders for radiation shielding applications based on zirconium minerals' leach liquor

The present study aims to avoid contaminating the environment with some chemical compounds produced as a washing product after zirconium mineral digestion. Then, using the Na2SiO2 obtained from the digestion process and other chemicals, two useful composites were created. These composites are glass powders doped by less than 12% Lead dinitrate (Pb(NO₃)₂). The structure and elemental chemical composition of the fabricated composites were investigated using the XRD diffractometer and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The γ-photon shielding capacity of the synthesis's composites was simulated using the Monte Carlo simulation code. According to the findings of the simulation, at a -ray energy of 0.033 MeV, the linear attenuation coefficient is 8.81 and 5.55 cm−1 for the synthesized composite materials with Pb concentration of 7.59 and 11.65 wt%. Additionally, the linear attenuation coefficient values at 1408 MeV for the synthesized composite materials were reduced to 0.142 cm−1 and 0.123 cm−1. •Two glass powder composites were synthesized based on the Na2SiO2 produced.•The XRD and EDX were used to discover the structure of the fabricated composites.•The γ-ray shielding capacity was evaluated using the Monte Carlo simulation.•The γ-ray shielding capacities were enhanced with enrichment of the lead dinitrate.