Electrical and gamma ray shielding characteristics of zinc-borovanadate glasses mixed with MnO

A set of glasses of composition, (ZnO)(0.3)-(V2O5)(0.6 - x)-(B2O3)(0.1)-(MnO)(x), where x = 0.05 to 2, was synthesized by melt quenching method. The powder XRD studies revealed nanocrystalline phase of the samples. Room temperature density is found to increase and molar volume to decrease with MnO concentration. Conductivity of the glasses has been measured for the temperature range 303-523 K. The conduction mechanism at high temperature is found to be consistent with Mott's small polaron hopping and Greaves variable range hopping at low temperature. Gamma ray shielding characteristics were evaluated using Phy-X/PSD software for the energy range 0.005-15 MeV. Mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) and linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) were found to be maximum at 0.005 MeV for all the samples. Observed variations of all the shielding characteristics showed evidence for photoelectric dominance at low energy and pair production at high energy levels. Half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL) and mean free path (MFP) increased with an increase in energy. MFP decreased with an increase of MnO content. Electron density (N-eff) decreased with an increase of energy. Equivalent atomic number (Z(eq)) of the samples is found to be higher than the marbles of different colours and black granite. These results indicate that the present glasses are the suitable candidates for nuclear radiation (gamma rays) shielding at lower energy.