Bismuth silicate glass containing heavy metal oxide as a promising radiation shielding material

Optical and FTIR spectroscopic measurements and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) properties have been utilized to investigate and characterize the given compositions of binary bismuth silicate glasses. In this work, it is aimed to study the possibility of using the prepared bismuth silicate glasses as a good shielding material for γ-rays in which adding bismuth oxide to silicate glasses causes distinguish increase in its density by an order of magnitude ranging from one to two more than mono divalent oxides. The good thermal stability and high density of the bismuth-based silicate glass encourage many studies to be undertaken to understand its radiation shielding efficiency. For this purpose a glass containing 20% bismuth oxide and 80% SiO₂ was prepared using the melting–annealing technique. In addition the effects of adding some alkali heavy metal oxides to this glass, such as PbO, BaO or SrO, were also studied. EPR measurements show that the prepared glasses have good stability when exposed to γ-irradiation. The changes in the FTIR spectra due to the presence of metal oxides were referred to the different housing positions and physical properties of the respective divalent Sr²⁺, Ba²⁺ and Pb²⁺ ions. Calculations of optical band gap energies were presented for some selected glasses from the UV data to support the probability of using these glasses as a gamma radiation shielding material. The results showed stability of both optical and magnetic spectra of the studied glasses toward gamma irradiation, which validates their irradiation shielding behavior and suitability as the radiation shielding candidate materials.