Effect of PbO on mechanical and radiations shielding properties of 70P2O3-5Al2O3-25Na2O glass system: A theoretical study

This study investigates the mechanical as well as shielding properties of 70P2O3-5Al2O3-(25-x)Na2O-xPbO, while using advanced MCNPX simulations code and Phy-X software. Advanced MCNPX coding simulation and online Phy-X software are used to compare the properties of three aluminum lead phosphate glasses named S1, S2 and S3 with PbO concentrations 0, 10, and 20 mol%, respectively. Various shielding parameters were calculated in the photon energy ranging from 0 to 15 MeV. These parameters include mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number, half-value layer, tenth-value layer, mean free path and linear attenuation coefficient. Our comparative analysis of the results from MCNPX and Phy-X in the case of mass attenuation coefficient indicates a high level of agreement, differing by less than 2% from each other. The half-value layer for S3 was found at 0.003 cm, 1.709 cm, and 5.984 cm at energies of 0.01 MeV, 0.5 MeV, and 15 MeV, respectively, while for S1 these values were found at 0.010 cm, 3.35 cm, and 13.96 cm in the same energy spectra. The results show that S3, with 20% PbO, is more likely to attenuate the gamma and X-ray photons; due to their minimum values of tenth value layer, half value layer, mean free path, and greater mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number as compared to S1 (undoped) and S2 (10% doped with PbO). The mass attenuation coefficient for S3 was found between 67.95 cm2/g to 0.030 cm2/g, while for undoped S1, these values varied between 27.64 cm2/g to 0.021 cm2/g in the energy range of 0-15 MeV. Furthermore, the Makishima-Mackenzie model is utilized to evaluate the mechanical behavior of our glass samples, influenced by factors such as energy of dissociation and packing density related to components of oxide. The mechanical features encompass various moduli, Poisson's coefficient and microhardness. The introduction of PbO in glass samples S2 and S3 increased all these properties, excluding Poisson's coefficient which decreases with the addition of PbO. Our findings provide valuable insights into the shielding and mechanical parameters of these glasses, suggesting probable applications in fields such as optics and nuclear physics.