Studies on the structural, optical and radiation shielding properties of (50-x) PbO-10 WO3-10 Na2O-10 MgO - (20+x) B2O3 glasses

Heavy metal oxide glasses of composition (50 - x) PbO - 10 WO3-10 Na2O - 10 MgO - (20 + x) B2O3 (where x = 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol%) have been fabricated using melt quenching technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra confirm the amorphous nature of the glasses. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) throws the light on the various structural properties of the glasses. UV - Visible spectra has been recorded in the range 190-1100 nm. The direct and indirect band gap energies increase from 2.695-2.805 eV and 3.126-3.237 eV as percentage of lead decreases. This value of indirect band gap is further used to calculate the other optical parameters such as refractive index, dielectric constant, optical dielectric constant, reflection loss, molar refractivity, metallization and molar polarizability. Besides, the mass attenuation coefficients have been obtained in the energy range of 0.01-10 MeV using MCNPX code and XCOM program. The obtained results are found to be in agreement. These values are further used to calculate the effective atomic numbers and half value layers of the present glasses. All the shielding parameters are found to depend on the chemical composition and energy of the gamma radiations. But the PB50B20 glass sample is found to possess the highest effective atomic number and the lowest value half value layer. The PB50B20 glass sample (contains 50 mol% PbO) owns the best gamma shielding characteristics.