Theoretical Ionizing Radiation Shielding Parameters of Thulium Doped Zinc Borotellurite Glass

¹ Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Pahang, Kampus Jengka, 26400 Bandar Pusat Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia
² Department of Physics, Centre for Defence Foundation Studies, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, Kem Sungai Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: hasnimulyati@uitm.edu.my

Abstract

Ionizing radiation is considered hazardous to human health but it is very crucial for many applications such as nuclear fuel processing and medical radiography. Glass has played a huge role as a shielding material for ionizing radiation in the application that requires line of sight. Nowadays, lead glass is commonly used in industry due to its properties of high density. However, lead toxicity can give harmful effects on humans’ health and the environment. As for concrete, it takes a lot of space, blocks the line of sight and the density of concrete may reduce due to prolonged exposure to radiation. To cater these problems, this study proposed a glass composition that is thulium doped zinc borotellurite glass. Thulium is used due to its potential such as resistance to corrosion and oxidation, good ductility and does not pose any environmental threat. In this study, Phy-X and WinXCom software is used. The main goal of this research is to study the theoretical radiation shielding parameters of thulium doped zinc borotellurite glass. Based on the results, it is found that the best glass sample is the sample composition with 5% thulium oxide whereby it has the highest value for mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), atomic cross section (ACS), electronic cross section (ECS) and effective atomic number (Z_eff). The best glass sample with 5% thulium oxide also yields the results of the lowest half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP). Comparing the results of Phy-X and WinXCom, it is found that the deviation between the software is less than 5%. Also, when the results for each radiation shielding parameter of 5% thulium oxide are compared with other radiation shielding materials, significant results are found where the proposed glass sample provides better shielding against gamma radiation.