article · Radiation Protection Dosimetry
Advancements in radiation therapy require ongoing improvements in shielding materials to protect medical facility staff. A novel lead borate glass formulation was developed by simultaneously increasing concentrations of lead and boron. The material is designed to serve as a protective barrier against gamma rays as well as fast and thermal neutrons within radiotherapy rooms. An extensive evaluation of attenuation parameters was conducted using Phy-X/PSD, EpiXS, and XCOM software alongside standard mixture rules. Evaluated metrics included cross sections for fast and thermal neutrons, mass and linear attenuation coefficients, half-value layer, mean free path, effective atomic number, effective electron density, and buildup factors. The findings confirmed that augmenting lead and boron enhanced radiation shielding. Specifically, the composition with the highest concentration of these elements, designated as PbB5 (40Pb-50B), proved to be the most effective attenuator across all tested radiation types.
Medical personnel working near radiotherapy suites must be shielded from harmful gamma rays and neutrons. Developing specialized transparent materials, such as lead borate glass, allows staff to monitor patients safely through windows while ensuring high levels of radiation protection. This reduces workplace radiation exposure risks in healthcare settings.
This work is relevant to manufacturers of radiation shielding glass and designers of radiotherapy treatment facilities seeking enhanced dual-protection barriers against gamma rays and neutrons. The research represents applied, computer-evaluated materials testing, suggesting that the glass formulation is at an early to mid-development stage, prior to large-scale commercial manufacturing and clinical validation.
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The development of radiation therapy necessitated a continuous R&D for radiotherapy rooms' glass windows to reach the highest levels of protection for the staff of the radiotherapy facility. Therefore, in this article, a novel type of lead borate glass depending on parallel augmenting of lead and boron was produced to be used as gamma-rays and fast and thermal neutrons barriers in radiotherapy rooms. Neutrons and gamma rays' attenuation parameters, fast neutrons removal cross section ${\varSigma}_R$, thermal neutron total cross section ${\sigma}_T$, mass attenuation coefficient $\sigma$, linear attenuation coefficient μ, half-value layer, mean free path, effective atomic number Zeff, effective electron density Neff, and buildup factor for energy absorption (energy absorption buildup factor) and exposure (exposure buildup factor) were studied extensively. Three tools, Phy-X/PSD, EpiXS and XCOM computer programs and the standard mixture rules were utilized to estimate the attenuation parameters. The improvement caused by the augmentation of lead and boron in both gamma rays and neutrons attenuation was evident from the obtained results. The glass containing the highest lead and boron concentration PbB5, 40Pb-50B, which is the most efficient attenuator for gamma rays and both thermal and fast neutrons was recommended to be a distinguished choice as a shield in a radiotherapy room.
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DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncad313
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