Synthesis, physical, structural and shielding properties of newly developed B2O3-ZnO-PbO-Fe2O3 glasses using Geant4 code and WinXCOM program

New zinc lead borate glasses with (50B(2)O(3)-10ZnO-(40-y) PbO)-yFe(2)O(3): 0 <= y <= 10 wt%) composition were synthesized by the conventional melt-quench technique. The amorphous nature of the glasses was tested by using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. FTIR spectra for the glasses were recorded in the range of 4000-400 cm(-1). Physical properties of the proposed glasses were evaluated. The mass attenuation coefficients (mu/rho) for the glasses were calculated by the Geant4 simulation toolkit code and XCOM software within the photon energy range 365-2510 keV. Different gamma-ray shielding parameters such as half-value layer, tenth value layer, and transmission fraction for the proposed glasses were evaluated using the obtained values of the (mu/rho). Results reveal that for 1c m glass thickness, the (50B(2)O(3)-10ZnO-30PbO)-10Fe(2)O(3) sample has the highest transmission, due to the lower amount of Pb, and thus poorer shielding capability among the other glass samples. In addition, the probabilities of gamma-ray interaction with the studied glasses were investigated.