Boron-based glass doped with blast furnace dust for radiation shielding applications

The structural, mechanical, optical and nuclear radiation shielding properties of the prepared glass series with the composition (75-x) B₂O₃ + 25 Bi₂O₃ + x (Blast Furnace Dust) (BFD), where x = 0, 5, 15, and 25 mol%, were investigated using the X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectra, Phy-X/PSD software and PHITS simulation code. The glasses were synthesized through the conventional melt quenching process and designated as S1 (x = 0), S2 (x = 5), S3 (x = 15), and S4 (x = 25). Through the investigation of ultrasonic characteristics, the modified glass samples' Poisson's ratio was found to be less than 0.3, indicating a high degree of cross-linking within the glass network. The Linear electric/dielectric susceptibility (χ⁽¹⁾) was decreased from 4.75 to 4.07 with increasing BFD in the samples. The direct optical band gap (E_opt) was determined, decreasing from 2.687 eV to 2.2 eV. The linear attenuation coefficient (μ) reached its highest values at the lowest energy levels, specifically 294.668, 339, 423, and 503 cm^-1 for S1, S2, S3, and S4, respectively, at 0.015 MeV. Both μ and the mass attenuation coefficient (μ_m) followed the increasing trend: S1 < S2 < S3 < S4, whereas the half-value layer (HVL) and mean free path (MFP) exhibited the opposite behavior. Notably, the S4 glass had the lowest adequate atomic number (Z_eff) within the photon energy range of 0.015-0.2 MeV but the highest Z_eff values were recorded within 0.3-15 MeV range. The findings reveal that the glass sample containing 25 % waste exhibits the most effective photon attenuation properties.