Gamma-ray shielding, physical, and structural characteristics of TeO2–CdO–PbO–B2O3 glasses

Abstract A novel glass system of composition 10 TeO2–10CdO-(20+x) PbO-(60-x) B2O3 (where x = 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 mol% respectively) has been prepared by melt quenching method. In order to get insight into the nature of the amorphous behaviour and various vibration modes and stretching modes, the XRD and FTIR spectra were used. The mean track length of the incoming photons in the fabricated TCPB glasses is simulated utilizing the Monte Carlo (MCNP-5) code. Moreover, the simulated mean track length was implemented to assess the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) for the fabricated samples. The highest MAC was achieved at the lowest gamma photon energy (0.015 MeV) and varied between 62.03 and 78.93 cm2 g−1 for the glass samples with 30 and 50 mol% of PbO, respectively. The TCPB50 sample (50 mol% of PbO) with a density of 6.51 g/cm3 and TCPB30 sample (20 mol% of PbO) with a density of 4.52 g/cm3 have the most and the least RPE values. The transmission factor (TF) decreases, and the radiation shielding efficiency (RPE) increases when the PbO content and the sample thickness increase.