Structural, optical, mechanical, and gamma-ray shielding performance of P₂O₅-substituted borophosphate glasses

The objective of the present work lies in the systematic investigation of the role of P₂O₅ substitution for B₂O₃ in a SrO-CaO-Na₂O modified borophosphate glass system and its combined influence on mechanical stability, optical behavior, and experimental radiation shielding performance. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) were employed to investigate the structure of the glass system. The UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to determine the optical properties. The Phy-X program was employed to study the radiation shielding properties. The results of X-ray diffraction showed that all glasses were found to be amorphous. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) affirmed the overlapping functional groups for boron and phosphorus oxides. Additionally, the band gap (E_g) measurements indicated that adding P₂O₅ increased the E_g from 3.828 ± 0.030 to 4.109 ± 0.038 eV. Simultaneously, the mechanical features showed improvement with an increasing P₂O₅ ratio. For instance, Young's modulus improved from 61.128 ± 0.228 to 65.574 ± 0.230 GPa. On the other side, the experimental radiation shielding properties showed good compatibility with theoretical results. Also, the radiation shielding properties increased with the addition of phosphorus oxide. For example, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) at 0.280 MeV grew from 0.272 ± 0.094 to 0.333 ± 0.045 cm^-1 with increasing P₂O₅. Lastly, it can be concluded that the addition of P₂O₅ instead of B₂O₃ improved the glass system's mechanical, structural, and radiation shielding features, which nominates the glass system for use in radiation shielding applications.