Gamma ray attenuation in a developed borate glassy system

•Design new glass system can be used as nuclear radiation shielding material.•Three different systems were used to measure γ-ray attenuation coefficients.•The γ-ray attenuation coefficients in this glass system were measured for 10 γ-energy lines.•Good agreement between experimental, theoretical, and results by other workers have been achieved.•Improvement of σ and HVL by increasing BaO concentration up to 50% in our glassy system.

Measurements and calculations of gamma ray attenuation coefficients in glass barriers of xBaO–5ZnO–5MgO–14Na2O–-1Li2O–(75−x)B2O3, previously prepared by the melt-quenching technique [1], were performed for γ-ray of energies 121.8, 244.7, 344.14, 661.66, 778.7, 974, 1086.7, 1173.24, 1332.5, and 1407.9 keV; which emitted from 152Eu, 137Cs, and 60Co radioactive gamma ray sources. The transmitted γ-rays were detected by 3″×3″ and 5″×5″ NaI (Tl) scintillation γ-ray spectrometers, and a highly calibrated survey meter. The mass attenuation coefficients of γ-rays (σ(E)) were deduced from the attenuation curves, while the WinXCom computer program (version 3.1) was used to calculate the mass attenuation coefficients of γ-rays for such energies at different barium concentrations of a glassy system. A good agreement between both experimental and theoretical results was achieved as well as results obtained by other workers in similar field.