Efficacy of Ni2+ on modification the structure, ultrasonic, optical, and radiation shielding behaviors of potassium lead borate glasses

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the method of preparing (60 − x ) B 2 O 3 –20 K 2 O–20 PbO– x NiO, coded as (NiO x ), and x = (0–10 mol%) glass systems fabricated through the melt-quench technique. The prepared glass was characterized through X-ray diffraction spectra (XRD); the mechanical behavior of the glass samples was investigated using the ultrasonic technique, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, the optical reflectance R ( λ ), refractive index ( n ), optical conductivity ( σ opt ), the dispersion parameters of the studied samples were deduced using Wemple and Di-Domenico models. The results obtained were reported in detail. One of the fundamental parameters used to evaluate the interaction of radiation with shielding material was the mass attenuation coefficient ( μ m ), which was obtained using Phy/X software and PHITS code program. It was used to calculate radiation interaction parameters, e.g., linear ( μ L ) attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number ( Z eff ), half value layer HVL, mean free path (MFP) and the average atomic cross section, σt . Comparing the shielding behavior of the glass samples revealed that (NiO 10) glass demonstrated the highest μ m and μ L compared to the other samples. The maximum μ m values equal 48.13, 48.73, 49.42, 50.59, and 51.08 cm 2 /g for (NiO 0) to (NiO 10), recorded at 0.015 MeV, respectively. This study shows that increasing the amount of NiO in the preferred glass samples leads to achieving high-performance radiation shielding materials. Graphical abstract