Experimental examination on physical and radiation shielding features of boro-silicate glasses doped with varying amounts of BaO

Investigations were conducted on the addition of barium's impact on the radiation shielding and physical attributes of five different glasses, designated S1–S5, with varying BaO contents. Using two point sources namely Co 60 and Cs 137 along with a scintillation detector [NaI(TL)], experimental measurements were made of the shielding parameters of γ-rays, namely the effective atomic number (Z eff ), electron density (N el ), half-value layer (HVL), linear attenuation coefficient (μ), mass attenuation coefficient (μ m ), mean free path (λ), and radiation protection effectiveness at the energies of 0.664, 1.177, and 1.334 MeV, and comparisons made with recently considered glasses as well as frequently employed materials for γ-ray shielding. The results show that the examined glasses' physical and radiation shielding qualities are improved by the addition of BaO. The μ values increased from 0.245 to 0.275 cm −1 (0.662 MeV), from 0.174 to 0.198 cm −1 (1.173 MeV), and from 0.161 to 0.189 (1.332 MeV). The observed values of HVL decreased from 2.83, 3.98, and 4.3 cm to 2.5, 3.5, and 3.62 cm at 0.662, 1.173, and 1.332 MeV, respectively, for the samples S1 and S5. In addition, the S5 glass sample was determined to have the best protection against photon among all the samples that were evaluated, as well as against recently considered glasses and those materials often utilized for gamma-ray shielding purposes.