New gadolinium based glasses for gamma-rays shielding materials

• Gd2O3 based glasses have been fabricated and investigated radiation shielding properties between 223 and 662 keV.
• Density of the glass increases with increasing of Gd2O3.
• All the glasses of Gd2O3 compositions studied had been shown lower HVL than X-rays shielding window.
• Prepared glasses to be utilized as radiation shielding material with Pb-free advantage.
• This work is the first to reports on radiation shielding properties of Gd2O3 based glass matrices.

In this work, Gd2O3 based glasses in compositions (80−x)B2O3-10SiO2-10CaO-xGd2O3 (where x = 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mol%) have been fabricated and investigated for their radiation shielding, physical and optical properties. The density of the glass was found to increase with the increasing of Gd2O3 concentration. The experimental values of mass attenuation coefficients (μm), effective atomic number (Zeff) and effective electron densities (Ne) of the glasses were found to increase with the increasing of Gd2O3 concentration and also with the decreasing of photon energy from 223 to 662 keV. The glasses of all Gd2O3 compositions studied have been shown with lower HVL values in comparison to an X-rays shielding window, ordinary concrete and commercial window; indicating their potential as radiation shielding materials with Pb-free advantage. Optical spectra of the glasses in the present study had been shown with light transparency; an advantage when used as radiation shielding materials.