Photon and neutron shielding performance of boron phosphate glasses for diagnostic radiology facilities

This study focuses on radiation shielding characteristics of Li2O, Al2O3 and ZnO-doped boron phosphate glasses containing PbO and Bi2O3. Mass attenuation coefficient (mu/rho) values of the glasses have been calculated using MCNPX code at various photon energies ranging from 60 to 120 keV and compared to those of XCOM software. The obtained results exhibited that MCNPX and XCOM are in good agreement at all energies. Some shielding parameters such as effective atomic number (Z(eff)), effective electron density (N-el), half value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP) and Photon transmission factors (TF-photon) were determined using the obtained mass attenuation coefficients. Moreover, macroscopic effective removal cross sections (Sigma R) and neutron transmission factors (TF-neutron) for fast neutrons have been evaluated. To simulate the attenuation properties of investigated glasses in a diagnostic radiology operation facility (control room), each boron phosphate glass sample was placed in front of a mathematical human head phantom namely SNYDER. For the glasses under examination, average photon flux in the eight detection points, which were located in different points of SNYDER head phantom, was calculated. Among the studied glasses, BPM4 sample has showed superior photon and neutron radiation shielding effectiveness. It can be concluded that boron-doped glasses are superior shielding materials for both gamma ray and neutrons.