Evaluation of gamma-ray attenuation properties of lithium borate glasses doped with barite, limonite and serpentine

The values of mass attenuation coefficient, the effective atomic number and the electron density of barite-doped, limonite-doped, serpentine-doped and undoped lithium borate glasses were obtained not only from experimental study using the narrow beam transmission method for 81, 121, 244, 276, 344, 383, 444 and 778 keV gamma energies with Hp-Ge detector, but also therotical work by WinXCom software (1 keV-10(5) MeV). From the obtained results, all glasses type mass attenuation coefficient values tend to decrease under the condition of increasing energy by means of varied interaction mechanism in different energy regions. In addition, the effect of chemical composition on shielding properties was also investigated. It is inferred that doping element with high atomic number improves the gamma rays shielding properties of system. Among the investigated samples, barite-doped lithium borate glasses have highest value of mass attenuation, which makes barite-doped samples good candidates for artificial radiation application where visual detection is especially required.