Abstract
•Broad absorption band observed around 465nm was due to Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), responsible for dark brown colour of Bi added samples•There was drastic decrease in MAC and Zeff values in the lower gamma energy range (0.015-3 MeV) because of dominance of the PE absorption process•MAC graph had K-absorption edges due to Bi3+ and Ba2+ ions at 0.1 MeV and 0.04 MeV•Bi-15 sample exhibited lowest HVL, TVL and MFP among the fabricated glasses, indicating the minimum thickness requirement for shielding ϒ-rays.•TL intensity dropped on adding Bi2O3 (5 mol%) to the network initially and on further addition (10 mol%) there was rise in the intensity.
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With the main intention of developing a transparent radiation shielding as well as a gamma dosimetric material, a series a heavy metal oxide borosilicate glass of composition (60-x) B2O3- 20SiO2- xBi2O3- 10ZnO- 10BaO with x = 0, 5, 10, 15 mol% was prepared by melt- quench technique. The glasses obtained were all transparent, except Bi-15 sample which is opaque and black in colour. The darkening is due to thermal reduction of Bi3+ ions, which is clearly indicated by absorption band around 377nm. XRD patterns showed the absence of crystalline peaks even in the opaque Bi-15 sample, confirming the glassy nature of all glasses. Furthermore, the structural changes in the glasses were confirmed with density measurement and FTIR studies. The Vickers hardness test done on transparent samples proved their higher mechanical strength, along with the theoretical calculation of elastic constants. The detailed analysis of gamma and neutron radiation shielding parameters for all the glasses was done using Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PSD) software. The results suggested that the ϒ-ray shielding capacity increased, whereas the neutron attenuation ability decreased with the successive addition of Bi2O3. The opacity of Bi-15 can create problem in certain applications where transparency is needed. In order to assess the possibility of transparent glasses to be used as gamma dosimeter, they were irradiated with gamma rays of 1.25 MeV and thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves were recorded. An interesting behaviour of quenching of TL intensity for initial addition and enhancement of TL intensity for further addition of Bi2O3 was observed. The linearity of the dose- response curve for Bi-10 sample in two regions of gamma doses 100 Gy-3 kGy and 5- 50 kGy, showcased the chances of Bi-10 sample to be used as TL dosimeter for both low and high doses.