Radiation shielding competence of silicate and borate heavy metal oxide glasses: Comparative study

Gamma-ray shielding competence of silicate and borate heavy metal oxide glasses has been investigated using linear attenuation coefficients, effective atomic numbers and exposure buildup factors (EBF). The gamma-ray EBF were computed using the Geometric Progression (G-P) fitting method for photon energies from 0.015 to 15MeV, and for penetration depths up to 40 mean free paths (mfps). The macroscopic effective removal cross-section for fast neutron has been calculated for energy range from 2 to 12MeV. It is found that bismuth silicate glass has superior shielding properties and is suitable for replacement of lead glasses. The present investigation is very useful for gamma-ray and neutron shielding and design for lead-free shielding glass in radiological engineering. •Radiation shielding efficiencies of heavy metal oxide glasses have been investigated.•Silicate glasses, bismuth borate glass and ZBB glasses were discussed.•Lead-free 70 Bi2O3:30 SiO2 is found to be the superior shielding glass.