Experimental, theoretical, and Monte Carlo simulation study of radiation shielding properties of La2O3-Added lithium borate glasses

The La2O3-added lithium borate glasses in the composition of (80-x)B2O3: xLa2O3: 10Li2O: 10Al2O3 (x = 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 mol%) were prepared by the melt quenching process. The gamma-ray shielding properties of glasses were measured experimentally at various gamma-ray energies acquired from sources of 133Ba, 137Cs, and 60Co and compared with the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation. FLUKA was also utilized for investigation and compared with the theoretical values obtained using the WinXCom program across the energy range from 0.015 MeV to 15 MeV. The mass attenuation coefficient (μm), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective electron density (Neff), mean free path (MFP) and half-value layer (HVL) were reported. From the results, it was found that adding La2O3 to the glass structure increased μm, Zeff, and Neff, while MFP and HVL decreased. The glasses exhibited the lowest HVL value, indicating improved shielding ability when compared with some shielding materials. PHITS has been utilized to simulate the variations in the absorbed dose resulting from interaction of protons within the modelled phantom. These findings demonstrate the suitability of La2O3-added lithium borate glasses as radiation shielding materials. •Investigation of new glasses shielding materials using Monte Carlo simulation.•The μm, Zeff and Neff increased with the increasing of La2O3.•Theoretical, experimental, and FLUKA simulation results exhibit similarities.•The absorbed dose rate from PHITS decreases with increasing La2O3 concentration.•La2O3-added lithium borate glasses are viable options for use as radiation shielding materials.