Abstract
The direct influence of La
3+
ions on the gamma-ray shielding properties of cobalt-doped heavy metal borate glasses with the chemical formula 0.3CoO-(80-x)B
2
O
3
-19.7PbO-xLa
2
O
3
: x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mol% was examined herein. Several significant radiation shielding parameters were evaluated. The glass density was increased from 3.11 to 3.36 g/cm
3
with increasing La
3+
ion content from 0 to 2 mol%. The S5 glass sample, which contained the highest concentration of La
3+
ions (2 mol%), had the maximum linear (μ) and mass (μ
m
) attenuation coefficients for all photon energies entering, while the S1 glass sample free of La
3+
ions possessed the minimum values of μ and μ
m
. Both the half value layer (T
1/2
) and tenth value layer (TVL) of all investigated glasses showed a similar trend of (T
1/2
, TVL)
S1
> (T
1/2
, TVL)
S2
> (T
1/2
, TVL)
S3
> (T
1/2
, TVL)
S4
> (T
1/2
, TVL)
S5
. Our results revealed that the S5 sample had the highest effective atomic number (Z
eff
) values over the whole range of gamma-ray energy. S5 had the lowest exposure (EBF) and energy absorption (EABF) build-up factor values across the whole photon energy and penetration depth range. Our findings give a strong indication of the S5 sample’s superior gamma-ray shielding characteristics due to the highest contribution of lanthanum oxide.