Using Phy-X/PSD to investigate gamma photons in SeO2–Ag2O–TeO2 glass systems for shielding applications

Abstract Phy-X/PSD software was applied to understand the gamma photon shielding characteristics of SeO2–Ag2O–TeO2 glass systems. The highest attenuation coefficients occurred at 15 keV (between 39.576 and 48.978 cm2/g) and the lowest at 15 MeV (between 0.0369 and 0.0392 cm2/g). The results showed that the attenuation factors highly depended on the concentration of TeO2, and μ/ρ increased as TeO2 changed from 28 to 70 mol%. The maximum effective atomic number values were between 15 keV and 0.08 MeV and the values at 0.04 MeV were 45.81, 46.55, 47.23, 47.84, 48.91, and 49.38 for SeAgTe1, SeAgTe2, SeAgTe3, SeAgTe4, SeAgTe5, and SeAgTe6, respectively. From the half value thickness results, the SeAgTe6 had the lowest HVT, and thus the best attenuation. The worst attenuation was found for the SeAgTe1, which had the least amount of TeO2 and the lowest density (ρ = 5.66 g cm-3). The results also revealed that there was a rapid increase in the tenth value layer (TVL) for all of the glasses up to 1 MeV as the energy increased, and then the TVL increased at a slower rate. The TVL also confirmed that the attenuation competence of the glasses increased when the TeO2 content increased from 28 mol% to 70 mol%. The attenuation of the SeAgTe1–SeAgTe6 glasses was much better than that of ilmenite, steel-magnetite concrete, and RS-360 glass, since these glasses had lower mean free paths, whereas the attenuation properties of the RS-520 glass were comparable to the SeAgTe3.