The Impact of PbF2-Based Glasses on Radiation Shielding and Mechanical Concepts: An Extensive Theoretical and Monte Carlo Simulation Study

This work aimed to investigate the impact of Lead-fluoride based glasses via theoretical and simulation techniques on mechanical and radiation shielding parameters. Accordingly, Bi2O3 was blended with TeO2–B2O3–PbF2 glasses by using melt-quenching method. Using Fluka Monte Carlo code, the radiation shielding properties have measured. Moreover, Comparatively higher density PbF80 = 6.163 g/cm3 with 80 mol % Bi2O3, greater µ, µm and Zeff and lower T1/2, λ, tenth value layer values achieved for TeO2–B2O3– PbF2/Bi2O3 glass pointed it out as the best shield of gamma. Besides, the computed effective removal cross-sections against fast neutrons (ΣR) observed that the PbF80 sample has commensurately greater with a value 5.2954 (cm−1). The results observed that the variation PbF2/Bi2O3 improves the gamma protection ability of Lead-fluoride based glasses. The incremental of Bi2O3 at the expense of PbF2 increases the density and the packing density of the glasses and hence increase the longitudinal modulus-L, shear modulus-S, bulk modulus-K, and Young's modulus-Y from 15.89 to 25.9 GPa, from 8.49 to 12.09 -GPa, from 4.58 to 9.77 GPa, and from 15.74 to 25.69 GPa, respectively. The increase of the elastic moduli can be attrinuted to the glass former role of Bi2O3. The results indicate that the highest PbF2/Bi2O3 ratio encoded PbF00 has the best shielding and mechanical competence with measurable physical properties. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.Taif University Researchers Supporting Project number (TURSP-2020/45) Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia

Ultrasonic Relaxation of TeWB Glasses at Low Temperatures

The ultrasonic relaxation of tellurite glasses xB2O3 – 70 TeO2 – (30 – x) WO3, 0 ≤ x ≤ 30 mol% was investigated by measuring the ultrasonic attenuation (αL) in these glasses in the thermal range 140–300 K (T) at various frequencies (f). Some characteristics can be obtained from the relation of αL–T, such as the average activation energy (Ep) and the attempt frequency (f0). The variables Ep and f0 are a function of frequency and B2O3 content. Moreover, the relation αL–T accounts well for the oscillations of the oxygen atoms in a relaxation process. Such a physical process is originated from transmitting ultrasonic energy to the oscillating oxygen atoms in a dual-well potential. The relaxation process is inspected by a model named central force one. The subtracted different physical variables from such a model are a function of B2O3 content. © 2021 The Author(s).The authors express their gratitude to the Deanship of Scientific Research, Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia, for funding this research work under Grant (R-2021-125)

The Influence of CoO/P2O5 Substitutions on the Structural, Mechanical, and Radiation Shielding of Boro-Phosphate Glasses

A new glass system (50−x)P2 O5 –20B2 O3 –5Al2 O3 –25Na2 O–xCoO was manufactured using a standard melt quenching procedure, where 1≤ x ≤ 12 mol%. The characteristics of boro-phosphate-glasses containing CoO have been studied. The effect of CoO on the radiation-protective properties of glasses was established. The density of the prepared glasses as a function of CoO increased. XRD was used to check the vitreous structure of samples. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to study the structure of each sample. FTIR demonstrated that connections grew as CoO/P2 O5 levels increased, and the FTIR spectra shifted to higher wavenumbers. The increment of CoO converts non-bridging oxygens associated with phosphate structural units into bridging oxygens. This process increases the concentration of BO4 structural units and creates new, strong and stable bonds B–O–P, i.e., there is polymerization of the boro-phosphate glass network. With an increase in the ratio of CoO/P2 O5 in the produced samples, ultrasonic velocities and elastic moduli were observed to increase. The coefficients of linear and mass attenuation, the transmittance of photons in relation to the photon energy, the efficiency of radiation protection in relation to the photon energy, and the thickness of the absorber were modeled using these two methods (experimental and theoretical). From the obtained values, it can be concluded that the 12Co sample containing 12 mol% will play the most influential role in radiation protection. An increase in the content of cobalt-I oxide led to a significant increase in the linear and mass attenuation coefficient values, which directly contributes to the development of the radiation-protective properties of glass. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work funding by Deanship of Scientific at Jouf University through research grant no (DSR2020-02-504)

Synthesis and theoretical characterization of ternary Cux(Ge30Se70)100−x glasses

The Cux(Ge30Se70)100−x (0 ≤ x ≤ 12 at.%) chalcogenide alloys have been synthesized by the conventional melt quenching technique. The physical properties such as the mean coordination number, density, molar volume, compactness, overall bond energy, and cohesive energy were estimated for the Cu doped Ge-Se glassy alloys. The chemical bond approach (CBA) was used to predict the type and proportion of the formed bonds in the studied glasses. Subsequently, several structural and physical properties have been estimated. The results show that the studied glasses are rigidly connected, having an average coordination number increase from 2.6 to 2.77. The density and glass compactness show an increase with the Cu content, whereas the main atomic volume decreases. The cohesive energy and the heat of atomization show a similar behavior trend with the enhancement of Cu % in the Ge-Se binary glasses. The optical band gap was estimated theoretically compared with the previously published experimental values for the Cux(Ge30Se70)100−x (0 ≤ x ≤ 12 at.%) thin films. The covalency parameter >91% for the studied glasses so that the compositions may be used as a stable glass former. Furthermore, the mechanical properties as the elastic bulk modulus, Poisson's ratio, Young's modulus, micro-hardness, and Debye temperature were investigated as a function of the Cu content. © 2021The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University , Saudi Arabia, for funding this work through the General Research Project Under Grant Number ( GRP/146/42 )

Promising applicable heterometallic Al2O3/PbO2 nanoparticles in shielding properties

Hetrometal oxides of (1 - x)Al2O3/xPbO2(NPs) nanoparticles with different PbO2content(x = 0, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7) have been prepared by irradiation method. The NPs powder hasbeen checked by X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD measurements affirmed the presence of bothpure NPs and nanocomposites of (1 - x)Al2O3/xPbO2NPs with different PbO2contents. Thecalculated structural parameters which using the experimental result of XRD charts to givea complete image of these measurements. Moreover, the results using FLUKA code showedthat the values attenuation coefficient (_m), high effective atomic number (Zeff) and neu-tron shielding parameters increase as the lead dioxide increase in the Al2O3/PbO2samples.While the values of half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) decrease with increas-ing PbO2content. The investigated shielding features of the chosen Al2O3/PbO2would beadvantageous for exposure control. © 2020 The Authors.The authors extended their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through the research group program under grant number R.G.P.2/33/41

Influence of MoO3 on the Structure of Lithium Aluminum Phosphate Glasses

IR spectroscopy, density and ultrasonic velocity measurements have been carried out for aluminum lithium phosphate glasses with and without MoO3. The observed changes in the FTIR spectra of the glasses were related to the modifier/former role of molybdenum ions. The results revealed that the density increases with increasing MoO3 content, which was attributed to the increase in the compactness and packing of the glass network. The ultrasonic data were analyzed in terms of creation of new bonds of MoO3 attached to phosphate units. The new bonds increased the average crosslink density and the number of network bonds per unit volume along with a strengthening of the different modes of vibrations which in its turn increased the ultrasonic velocity, the rigidity and hence the elastic moduli of the glasses

Influence of MoO3 on the Structure of Lithium Aluminum Phosphate Glasses

IR spectroscopy, density and ultrasonic velocity measurements have been carried out for aluminum lithium phosphate glasses with and without MoO3. The observed changes in the FTIR spectra of the glasses were related to the modifier/former role of molybdenum ions. The results revealed that the density increases with increasing MoO3 content, which was attributed to the increase in the compactness and packing of the glass network. The ultrasonic data were analyzed in terms of creation of new bonds of MoO3 attached to phosphate units. The new bonds increased the average crosslink density and the number of network bonds per unit volume along with a strengthening of the different modes of vibrations which in its turn increased the ultrasonic velocity, the rigidity and hence the elastic moduli of the glasses