Fabrication luminescence and radiation shielding properties of Gd₂O₃–La₂O₃–ZnO–B₂O₃–Sm₂O₃ glasses

The purpose of developing high transparency radiation shielding materials and luminescence materials with stoichiometric ratio of xGd₂O₃:10La₂O₃:10ZnO:(79-x) B₂O₃: 1Sm₂O₃ where x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mol% using melt quenching technique. The physio-optical properties such as molar volume, density, concentration of rare-earth ions, polaron radius, inter-ionic radius, optical basicity, average distance between rare-earth ions, and optical packing density of the present glasses has been evaluated. The glass samples obtained show high density which is vital factor for radiation shielding. The absorption spectra show significant of bands Sm³⁺ ions. The FTIR results of Gd-La-Zn-B-Sm (Gd-1Sm) glass samples show signature borate BO₃ and BO₄ vibrational units in Gd-1Sm glass samples. The μ, μ_m, HVL, TVL, and MFP were evaluated and showed that the values decrease with increasing X-ray energy whereas increase with an increase in Gd₂O₃ content suggesting their potential use in X-ray diagnosis regions. The HVL value was compared with commercial windows, concrete, Serpentine and X-ray windows and found that the glasses doped with 10 mol%, 15mol%, and 20 mol% Gd₂O₃ content showed better results than X-Ray windows at 10 kVp. The emission and excitation spectra of glass samples were studied and emission spectra show orange emission bands. The experimental lifetime analysis shows that the glass samples show decreasing trend from 1.161 to 1.128 ms with an increase in Gd³⁺ ions exhibiting single exponential nature.