The concentration impact of Yb3+ on the bismuth boro-phosphate glasses: Physical, structural, optical, elastic, and radiation-shielding properties

Abstract

In this study, the concentration impacts of Yb3+ on a series of bismuth boro-phosphate (EBiBPxY) glasses are studied. The compositional investigations are done through FTIR spectra. EBiBP0.25Y glass is the most compact one. The EBiBP2Y glass is found to be suitable for sound-resistant purposes from the atomic packing fraction and acoustic impedance evaluations. Two procedures were used to determine the competence of EBiBPxY glasses to shield gamma radiation (simulation technique and theoretical technique). The R-squared values were obtained as 0.99998–1, which indicates the harmony between the values collected by the two techniques. As the Yb2O3 increases, the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) also increases, leading to the finding that the EBiBP2Y has the biggest LAC at the studied energy ranges. The LAC for EBiBP2Y changed from 97.972 to 0.100 cm−1, increasing the gamma energy between 0.015 and 15 MeV. The obtained values for the half-value layer (Δ0.5) showed that with an increase in Yb2O3, the Δ0.5 reduced. At 15 MeV, the Δ0.5 values decreased from 7.650 to 6.928 cm, raising the Yb2O3 concentration in the glass network between 0 and 2 wt%. The Δ0.5 results emphasized that EBiBP2Y owns the best shielding performance.