Elsevier

Ceramics International

Volume 46, Issue 14, 1 October 2020, Pages 23134-23144
Ceramics International

Mechanical features, alpha particles, photon, proton, and neutron interaction parameters of TeO2–V2O3–MoO3 semiconductor glasses

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.06.093Get rights and content

Abstract

Mechanical properties, alpha particles, gamma-ray, proton, and neutron interaction parameters of 40TeO2-(60-x)V2O5-xMoO3: 20 ≤ xMoO3 ≤ 60 mol% (TVM20-TVM60) semiconductor glasses have been investigated. Based on Makishima–Mackenzie's model, the total ionic packing density (Vt) and the total dissociation energy (Gt) for TVM-glasses have been computed. Elastic moduli, hardness, and Poisson's ratio haven been calculated. Utilizing WinXcom and EXABCal computer codes, mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), half value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), equivalent atomic number (Zeq), energy absorption and exposure built up factors (EABF and EBF), and fast neutron removal cross section ∑R have been computed. Results reflected that the (Vt) of the TVM-glasses varied from 0.597 to 0.610 (m3/mol), while the (Gt) increased from 63.36 × 106 to 63.48 × 106 (KJ/m3) for TVM20 to TVM60 glasses. The highest elastic features were found for TVM60 glass sample with highest value of MoO3 content. The elastic properties varied from 75.77 to 77.45 GPa for Young's modulus, from 54.67 to 56.70 GPa for bulk modulus, and from 0.267 to 0.272 for Poisson's ratio. The TVM60 glass sample possess the highest MAC, followed by TVM50, TVM40, TVM30, and TVM20, respectively. The maximum HVL was obtained at 8 MeV for all glass samples with values of 5.75, 5.30, 5.05, 4.71 and 4.31 cm for TVM 20, TVM30, TVM40, TVM50, and TVM60, respectively. The TVM60 has a better fast neutron shielding capacity compare to the other glasses. The relative difference between EABF and EBF of the glasses were in the order TVM20 > TVM30 > TVM40 > TVM50 > TVM60. We can say that TVM60 glass can attenuate more photons than TVM20-TVM50 glasses.

Introduction

Natural and artificial sources of ionizing radiation (IR) and radioisotopes that produce them have been used extremely in diverse applications for human benefits. Fissionable radionuclides are used in nuclear reactors for the generation of electric power and isotopes production; sealed sources of 60Co, 201Tl, 123I are examples of isotopes used in medicine for the treatment of health trauma, sterilizing medical equipment, and as nuclear medicine [1,2]. Also, IR are applied in food processing and preservation industries, and for material characterization among others. However, the benefits derived from the use of IR is threatened by the harmful effects uncontrolled exposure to ionizing radiation has on living tissues [3]. Consequently, the use of shielding as a radiation protection procedure is a cardinal issue for continuous adoption of IR in existing and future applications. This has made research into radiation shielding materials very active in nuclear science and technology [[4], [5], [6]]. The choice of a material for shielding is hinged on factors such as: radiation quality and energy, available space, cost, required physical and mechanical description of the shield. The most important of all is that the material must have high absorption cross section for the radiation type and at energy of interest [[6], [7], [8], [9], [10]]. In radiation protection, photons (gamma- and X-radiation) and neutrons are of major concern due to their high penetration ability [1]. Therefore, shielding parameters for these radiations are essential when assessing any material for IR shielding efficacy.

Traditional shielding material such as Pb, concrete, and depleted uranium have major drawbacks that have continuously limit their application. For instance, Pb and PB-based composite have toxicity and cost related issues [4,5]; concrete suffers from cracking and unstable properties due to temperature changes which leads to changes in its chemical (hydrogen) content [6]; uranium on its own is radioactive. All these problems have research into novel materials such as glasses very attractive to research community [[7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]]. Recently, glass materials have gained wide attention and preferred in nuclear radiation shielding systems [[13], [14], [15], [16], [17]]. Te-based glasses can be used in wide range in memory switching devices, solar cells, and solid-state lasers [18].

Commonly, addition of vanadium oxide (V2O5) to glass structure playing an important role as a conditional glass former and improve the electrical, magnetic, and optical features of the produced glasses [19]. Furthermore, introducing V2O5 into TeO2 glass structure leads to form the n-type semiconducting glasses because they include V+4/V+5 valence states [19,20].

The effect of antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) and molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) on the electrical conduction, molar ratio, and optical energy gap in TeO2–V2O5 semiconductor glasses have been reported formerly [[21], [22], [23]].

This article presents the mechanical properties, alpha particles, photon, proton, and neutron interaction parameters of TeO2–V2O3–MoO3 (TVM) semiconductor glasses. The mechanical properties including elastic moduli, hardness, and Poisson's ratio were computed based on Makishima–Mackenzie's theory. Charged and uncharged shielding parameters such as Mass and linear attenuation coefficients (MAC and LAC), half value layer and mean free path (HVL and MFP), effective and equivalent atomic numbers (Zeff and Zeq), and photon energy absorption and exposure buildup factors (EABF and EBF) were evaluated. Fast neutron removal cross sections (∑R), mass stopping power and range of alpha and proton were also computed. The correlation between shielding features and elastic moduli have been reported.

Section snippets

Glasses description

The investigated glasses in the this study are samples of Tellurium oxide (TeO2)–Vanadium oxide (V2O5)–Molybdenum oxide (MoO3) with from 40TeO2-(60-x)V2O5-xMoO3: 20 ≤ xMoO3 ≤ 60 mol% were selected from Refs. [23]. Generally, these glasses labelled as TVM-glasses and each glass sample coded as:

TVM20: 40TeO2–40V2O5–20MoO3 for x = 20 mol%,

TVM30: 40TeO2–30V2O5–30MoO3 for x = 30 mol%,

TVM40: 40TeO2–20V2O5–40MoO3 for x = 40 mol%,

TVM50: 40TeO2–10V2O5–50MoO3 for x = 50 mol%, and.

TVM60: 40TeO2–0V2O5–40MoO

Mechanical features

Values of the (nf), (nc), (F), (Vi), and (Gi) physical factors of the oxides TeO2, V2O5 and MoO3 which formed the investigated TVM-glasses (See Table 1) are collected in Table 2. The (Vt) and (Gt) values for TVM-glasses were computed via Equation (7) and Equation (8), respectively and listed in Table 3. Appling the obtained values of (Vt) and (Gt) in Makishima–Mackenzie's model (Equations (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)), elastic moduli, hardness, and Poisson's ratio are computed and gathered in

Conclusion

In this article, the mechanical properties and the capacity alpha, proton, neutron, and gamma-ray shielding competence of 40TeO2-(60-x)V2O5-xMoO3: 20 ≤ xMoO3 ≤ 60 mol% glasses were investigated. Elastic moduli, hardness, and Poisson's ratio were computed utilizing Makishima–Mackenzie's model. The MAC, LAC, HVL, MFP, and Zeff as radiation shielding parameters were evaluated. The EABF, EBF, and ∑R were also computed. The correlation between shielding features and elastic moduli have been

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University (KKU) for funding this research project Number (R.G.P2./102/41).

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