Dualistic impact of Eu³⁺ /La³⁺ ions on the structural and radiation shielding competency of co-doped Strontium telluro borophosphate glasses

The current research reports the structural, physical, mechanical and radiation-resisting competency of a series of glasses with chemical configuration 37TeO₂ +28.5H₃BO₃ +13P₂O₅ + 10SrCO₃ + 10XO + 1Eu₂O₃ + 0.5La₂O₃ (X = Mg, Ca, Ba, Al and Bi). The melt and quench method were adopted for glass fabrication to produce new and effective channels carrying improved shielding qualities. The structural characteristics were demonstrated via XRD and FTIR spectroscopy. The physical and structural properties were analyzed in the contest of the added oxide additives. Glass elastic moduli were investigated through the Makishima-Mackenzie model, and the compactness of the network was observed to improve with the addition of Al₂O₃ oxide, which is the anticipated shielding property. The γ-ray shielding properties were assessed by employing the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method and Phy-X/PSD software. The investigation shows that the best γ-ray attenuation properties were achieved for glass samples with BiCO₃. Additionally, the sample thickness required to achieve the same shielding efficiency as 1 cm of Pb decreased significantly, from 8.96 to 2.54 cm, as the gamma-ray energy increased within the range of 0.015–3 MeV. The radiation shielding properties of 2 cm thickness of the glass sample doped with BiCO₃ reach 55.75 % at γ-ray energy of 0.662 MeV. Therefore, the mentioned glass sample has suitable shielding properties for intermediate γ-ray energies.