Optical and radiation shielding characteristics of tellurite glass doped with different rare-earth oxides

Shielding glass materials doped with heavy metal oxides show an improvement in the effectiveness of the materials used in radiation shielding. In this work, the photon shielding parameters of six tellurite glass systems doped with several metal oxides namely, 70TeO2-10P2O5- 10ZnO- 5.0PbF2- 0.0024Er2O3- 5.0X (where X represents different doped metail oxides namely, Nb2O5, TiO2, WO3, PbO, Bi2O3, and CdO) in a broad energy spectrum, ranging from 0.015 MeV to 15 MeV, were evaluated. The shielding parameters were calculated using the online software Phy-X/PSD. The highest linear and mass attenuation coefficients recorded were obtaibed from the samples containing bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), and the lowest half-value layer and mean free path were recorded among the other samples. Furthermore, the shielding effectiveness of tellurite glass systems was compared with commercial shielding materials (RS-369, RS-253 G18, chromite, ferrite, magnetite, and barite). The optical parameters viz, dispersion energy, single-oscillator energy, molar refraction, electronic polarizability, non-linear refractive indices, n2 , and third-order susceptibility were measured and reported at a different wavelength. Bi2O3 has a strong effect on enhancing the optical and shielding properties. The outcome of this study suggests the potential of using the proposed glass samples as radiation-shielding materials for a broad range of imaging and therapeutic applications.

Evaluation of mineral fiber properties using x-ray fluorescence analysis and measurement of natural radioactivity

The article analyzes the factors affecting the longevity of insu-lating systems and the operational resistance of products based on mineral fibers. It is emphasized that the ratio of acid oxides contained in the charge to the main oxides is the main factor influencing the operational resistance of mineral fibers, as well as the energy intensity of their production. A hy-pothesis has been put forward and confirmed that the operational resistance of a fiber depends on the content of heavy metals (their oxides) in the ini-tial charge. Determination of the elemental composition of stone wool samples was carried out by X-ray fluorescence analysis. Conducted sam-ples with a different acidity module of the study, show, that the fibers are safe by radiation indices, and their operational resistance can be affected by heavy metal oxides. It is substantiated that the durability of building systems in which mineral wool products are used as thermal insulation is determined by the properties of mineral wool products, the literacy of de-sign solutions and the quality of installation. The properties of mineral wool products, including their operational resistance, depend on the prop-erties of mineral fibers and the observance of technological regimes both on the fact of the most complete curing of the binder and on the features of formation of the volume-oriented structure of the mineral wool carpet.