Abstract
The effect of tungsten trioxide (WO3) on the shielding properties of the lead(II) oxide-boron trioxide-phosphorus pentoxide-WO3 system was investigated. The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) were evaluated using the XCOM program (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD) in the energy range of 0.015-10 MeV. The μ/ρ values were then used to calculate the mean free path (MFP) and half value layer (HVL). In addition, the macroscopic effective removal cross section for fast neutrons (ΣR) was calculated for the present glass system. It was found that the μ/ρ values increase with increasing WO3 concentration, while HVL and MFP values decrease with increasing WO3 content. The present glass system showed good radiation shielding properties by providing shorter MFP than some glass systems, such as 70TeO2-30V2O5 and 80TeO2-20MoO3 glasses. In addition, it was found that the ΣR values for the present glasses lie within the range of 0.1100-0.1132 cm−1.