Gamma ray shielding properties of TeO2-ZnF2-As2O3-Sm2O3 glasses

In this work, a series of glasses in the xTeO2-(70-x)ZnF2-25As2O3-5Sm2O3 systems, where (x = 35, 40, 45 and 50 mil.%) have been synthesized via conventional melt quenching method. The narrow beam geometry method has been used to measure the linear attenuation coefficient for this glass systems at the energy range of 0.123–1.33 MeV. The mass attenuation coefficient (μm), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective electron density (Nel) and exposure buildup factor (EBF) have been calculated utilizing the experimental linear attenuation coefficient. The results revealed that the shielding parameters depend on the concentration of TeO2 and the addition of TeO2 significantly increased shielding capability of glass samples against gamma rays. The experimental values have been compared with Xcom program, standard concretes and some shielding glasses. The 50TeO2-20ZnF2-25As2O3-5Sm2O3 has been found to be the most effective shield.