Comparative study of gamma-ray shielding features and some properties of different heavy metal oxide-based tellurite-rich glass systems

Tellurite-rich glasses containing Sm³⁺, Dy³⁺, and Er³⁺ ions with nominal chemical composition of 69 TeO₂‒10 Bi₂O₃‒10 BaO‒10 ZnO‒1.0 Sm₂O₃/1.0 Dy₂O₃/1.0 Er₂O₃ (mol%) were fabricated. The gamma radiation attenuation features of the synthesized glasses were compared with two other tellurite glass systems with the chemical composition of 68 TeO₂‒(22-x) Bi₂O₃‒10 ZnO‒ (x) PbO (x = 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 mol%), and 75 TeO₂‒20 B₂O₃‒5 M_xO_y (mol%) (M_xO_y = WO₃, Nb₂O₅, PbO, Nd₂O₃, Y₂O₃). The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) (MAC) were computed from 0.015 MeV to 15 MeV photon energies using the XCOM program. Using the obtained μ/ρ values, effective atomic number (Z_eff), electron density (N_e), half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) were determined at different photon energies. The results clearly reveal that the MAC depends upon the heavy metals present in the studied glasses, and such addition increases the shielding capabilities of the samples against the gamma radiation. The Z_eff and N_e confirmed the shielding effects with a variation in heavy metals content. The HVL and MFP values indicate the potential application in radiation insulation with less probability of interactions with gamma photons in the investigated tellurite glasses. It is found that the HVL or MFP values of the A ‒ C glasses lies in between the HVL or MFP values of the S1 – S5 and the T1 ‒ T5 glasses, respectively. Thus, the synthesized glasses are better shielding materials than the T1 – T5 glasses and possess slightly less gamma-ray shielding capacity than that of S1–S5 glasses.