Influence of SeO₂-Bi₂O₃ on structure and radiation shielding of waste cathode ray tubes (CRT) glasses

In this paper, the effect of SeO₂-Bi₂O₃ binary additive system on the hardness, density, chemical, morphological, and radiation shielding properties of waste cathode ray tubes (CRT) glasses was investigated. The density is 2.622, 2.899, and 2.322 g cm^-3 for CRT+5S-B, CRT+10S-B, and CRT+20S-B, respectively. An increase in density and hardness is observed when the SeO₂ additive ratio is 10%, whereas a decrease in density and hardness is observed when the SeO₂ ratio reaches 20%. At 15 MeV, the linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) are 0.09684 cm^-1 for CRT-5S-B, 0.11015 cm^-1 for CRT-10S-B, and 0.09036 cm^-1 for CRT-20S-B. The LACs are the highest for CRT-10S-B and they are the lowest for CRT-20S-B. At 15 MeV, the effective number (Z_eff) is the maximum for CRT-20S-B with value of 30.17461 whereas they are the smallest for CRT-5S-B with value of 27.54284. At 0.1 MeV, the effective number (Z_eff) is the maximum for CRT-20S-B, whereas they are the smallest for CRT-5S-B. The mean free paths (MFPs) of the CRT-10S-B are the smallest with value of 9.07823 cm, whereas they are the highest for CRT-20S-B with value of 11.06709 cm at 15 MeV. The total fast neutron removal cross section is 0.05856 cm^-1 for CRT-5S-B 0.06359 cm^-1 for CRT-10S-B, and 0.04986 cm^-1 for CRT-20S-B. Consequently, the CRT-10S-B has superior shielding properties for both photons and fast neutrons.