Influence of sodium oxide substitution on structural and gamma-ray radiation shielding properties of sodium borosilicate glass

In this paper, borosilicate glasses with varying concentrations of sodium oxide were synthesized using the melt- quenching method. The amorphous nature of the glasses under investigation, with a composition of (20 + x) Na2O-(60-x)B2O3-20SiO2 2 O-(60-x)B 2 O 3 -20SiO 2 (where x = 0, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 mol%), was confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was employed to analyze the glasses and revealed an increase in the concentration of non-bridging oxygen atoms (NBO) with increasing amounts of Na2O. 2 O. The N4 4 parameter, which represents the fraction of NBOs, was calculated and found to decrease from 74% to 52% as the concentration of Na2O 2 O increased. The density of the glasses increased from 2.391 g/cm3 3 to 2.744 g/ cm3 3 when B2O3 2 O 3 was replaced with Na2O, 2 O, while the molar volume decreased from 27.68 cm3/mol 3 /mol to 23.56 cm3/ 3 / mol. Theoretically, theoretical calculations were performed using newly developed computer software called Phys-PSD to assess their shielding properties, including attenuation coefficients, half value layer, and buildup factors. The calculations were conducted in the energy range of 0.015-15 MeV. The results indicated that the synthesized glasses exhibited promising potential as radiation shields.