Abstract:

In this work, shielding parameters of LAS (lithium-aluminum-silicate) Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 glass samples have been reported with the help of the WinXCom code, a Windows version of the XCOM database. The effect of increasing P2O5 concentration on the shielding parameters has been examined in the used Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 glass samples. The shielding effectuality of the materials for gamma-ray can be interpreted with the help of several different attenuation parameters which plays key role in understanding the shielding capabilities of the material. The mass attenuation coefficient, defined by µm=μ/ρ, is the most basic coefficient used to calculate the shielding parameters. These parameters are the mean free path (MFP), half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL), effective electron number (Ne) and equivalent atomic number (Zeq). The exposure buildup factor (EBF) and GP fitting parameters are also calculated by the method of logarithmic interpolation using Zeq of a Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 glass system. The EBF values for Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 glass samples show an inverse relation with Ne. Further, P1 (least Ne) offers maximum values of EBF and P6 (highest Ne) offers minimum EBF values. The change in different shielding parameters for the selected glasses was interpreted by considering three interactions with the substance (Photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production). The obtained results show that the µm strongly depends on the photon energy, chemical composition and density of the shielding materials. It is clear to see that P6 glass sample having the highest P2O5 concentration is the most effective glass sample among the other glasses of Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2 system in nuclear radiation shielding ability.