Influence of ZnF2 and WO3 on Radiation Attenuation Features of Oxyfluoride Tellurite WO3-ZnF2-TeO2 Glasses Using Phy-X/PSD Software

The radiation shielding features of the ternary oxyfluoride tellurite glasses were studied by calculating different shielding factors. The effect of the TeO₂, WO_3, and ZnF₂ on the tested glass system’s attenuating performance was predicted from the examination. The mass attenuation coefficient (µ/ρ) values for the oxyfluoride tellurite glasses depend highly on the concentration of WO_3, as well as ZnF₂. All the present ZnFWTe1-ZnFWTe5 samples have higher µ/ρ values than that of the pure TeO₂ glass at all energies. For the samples with a fixed content of WO₃, the replacement of TeO₂ by ZnF₂ increases the µ/ρ, while for the glasses with a fixed content of TeO₂, the replacement of WO₃ by ZnF₂ results in a decline in the µ/ρ values. The results revealed that ZnFWTe4 has the lowest linear attenuation coefficient (µ) among the oxyfluoride tellurite glasses, whereby it has a slightly higher value than pure TeO₂ glass. The maximum effective atomic number (Z_eff) is found at 0.284 MeV and varied between 31.75 and 34.30 for the tested glasses; it equaled to 30.29 for the pure TeO₂ glass. The half-value layer (HVL) of the glasses showed a gradual decline with increasing density. The pure TeO₂ was revealed to have thicker HVL than the selected oxyfluoride tellurite glasses. A 1.901-cm thickness of the sample, ZnFWTe1, is required to decrease the intensity of a photon with an energy of 0.284 MeV to one-tenth of its original, whereas 1.936, 1.956, 2.212, and 2.079 cm are required for glasses ZnFWTe2, ZnFWTe3, ZnFWTe4, and ZnFWTe5, respectively.