| Summary: | Elastic moduli were theoretically computed using the Makishima–Mackenzie model for SiO<sub>2</sub>–Na<sub>2</sub>O–CaO glasses doped with Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> contents. The calculated elastic moduli (Young’s, bulk, shear, and longitudinal modulus) were observed to increase with an increase in the Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> contents. The microhardness showed an increase, while Poisson’s ratio decreased with the rise of the Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> contents. In addition, gamma-ray and neutron shielding parameters were evaluated for the investigated glasses. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) was simulated using the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code (MCNP-5). Other parameters, such as the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), transmission factor (TF), and half-value layer, were calculated based on the simulated LAC. The addition of Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> content was observed to enhance the investigated glasses’ shielding parameters, where the highest LAC was achieved for the SCNSb10 glass with 10 mol% Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and decreased from 0.441 to 0.154 cm<sup>−1</sup> at gamma energies between 0.248 and 1.406 MeV. Furthermore, the fast neutron effective removal cross-section (∑<sub>R</sub>) was computed theoretically. The calculated results showed that the highest ∑<sub>R</sub> was equal to 0.0341 cm<sup>2</sup>g<sup>−1</sup> and was obtained for the SCNSb0 glass, which had no Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> content, while the lowest ∑<sub>R</sub> was equal to 0.0286 cm<sup>2</sup> g<sup>−1</sup> for the SCNSb10 glass sample. The present work was carried out to examine the advantages of the soda–lime glasses with different Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> contents in several photon shielding applications, especially for radiation safety in nuclear installations.
|
|---|