Effect of rare-earth oxide (Eu 2 O 3 ) on the physical, mechanical, acoustic and radiation shielding properties of the CaO-Gd 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 glasses

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of europium-doped calcium gadolinium silicoborate glasses for determining their physical, mechanical, acoustic and radiation shielding properties with compositions of 25Gd O -10CaO-10SiO -xEu O -(55-x) B O (where, x is 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 mol%). These glasses were theoretically analyzed using the Geant4 toolkit and Phy-X PSD software to calculate their performance for x-ray energies ranging from 0.2 to 1.2 MeV. The physical, acoustic and mechanical properties were determined using the Makishima-Mackenzie (MM) model. As the content of Eu O increases, the density of the glasses also increases. As the amount of Eu O increases, the mechanical properties decrease. This means that certain mechanical properties of the material may be negatively affected, resulting in a decreased ability to maintain structural integrity and resist deformation when exposed to radiation. The elastic modulus reflects the material's stiffness or rigidity, and a lower value indicates that the material is more prone to deformation when subjected to mechanical stress. Bulk and Young's moduli show a decreasing trend from 255.49 to 253.10 GPa and 368.20 to 366.50 GPa with increasing Eu concentration in the glass samples. The LAC values of EuGd4 glass is much smaller when compared to the other glasses. The presence of gadolinium and europium compounds in the glass increases its ability to absorb radiation due to the elements of high atomic numbers. This is because the higher effective atomic number (Z ) of these compounds enhances the glass of shielding capabilities against neutron and gamma rays, resulting in improved radiation protection.