Enhancement the Structural, Mechanical and Radiation Shielding of Borosilicate Glasses Doped Vanadium Ions

The structural, physical, mechanical, and radiation shielding characteristics of the glass system consisting of 27SiO₂-53B₂O₃- 2ZnF₂- (18-x) Li₂O-xV₂O₅ (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) were studied. The glasses were fabricated using the melt-quench method. It was found that the density and molar volume of the current glasses were influenced by the V₂O₅ content. The structural characteristics were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Using the pulse-echo method, longitudinal and shear velocities were measured to study elastic characteristics. The radiation shielding characteristics were determined using the Phy-X program for γ rays. The densities varied from 3090 kgm⁻³ to 4140 kgm⁻³, whereas molar volume varied from 19.6 × 10^–6 m³ mol⁻¹ to 15.36 × 10^–6 m³ mol⁻¹. With the addition of V₂O₅, ultrasonic velocities, elastic moduli (experimentally and theoretically), hardness (H), and Debye temperature ( \({\theta }_{D}\) ${\theta }_D$ ) were increased. It is noteworthy that the theoretically predicted elastic moduli, obtained using the (MMM) model, exhibits a remarkable agreement with the experimentally determined elastic moduli. This consistency is further corroborated by the shielding properties of the borosilicate glasses. As the V₂O₅ content increases and the Li₂O decreases, the MAC values increase suggesting greater radiation shielding capacities. It’s observed that the MAC values for G5 are higher than those for G1. Therefore, it is a great choice for application in the field of radiation shielding.