Experimental study of the ionizing gamma-rays shielding capability for MgO-PbO-SiO₂-B₂O_3-BaO glass systems

The radiation shielding properties of borosilicate glasses with different concentrations of BaO at 0.0595, 0.9961, 1.173 and 1.333 MeV have been investigated. The obtained data indicates a high degree of correlation between the measured and Phy-X LAC values for the four prepared glasses, exemplifying the accuracy of the measurement method used to report of the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) for the prepared glasses. This work demonstrates a significant impact of glass composition on LAC. This refers to the notable increase in LAC with increased BaO content and reduced B₂O₃ in glasses from B55B10 to B40B25. The results highlight that in glasses, increasing the concentration of BaO decreases the half value layer, implying that glasses with higher BaO are more desirable for radiation shielding applications due to their small thickness. The results reveal a considerable energy dependency in half value layer (HVL), with an observed 60–65% increase as the photon energy increases from 0.6691 to 1.333 MeV.