Abstract:
The work is devoted to the study of the effect of variation of the ratio of oxides in the composition
of (1-х)ZnO-0.25Al2
O3
-0.25WO3
-хBi2
O3
glass-like ceramics on shielding characteristics when employed
as materials to mitigate the adverse effects of gamma radiation with different energy. The primary incentive
behind these investigations is to discover novel protective shielding materials that lack lead or its oxide
forms yet possess high shielding efficiency. Additionally, the aim is to identify the most promising
compositions for potential practical applications in shielding. During the studies of shielding characteristics,
it was observed that partial replacement of zinc oxide with bismuth oxide leads to a pronounced increase
in shielding for low-energy gamma rays, for which, according to the data obtained, an increase in the
concentration of bismuth oxide leads to an increase in the linear and mass coefficient by more than 0.8 – 1.2
times. An analysis of the influence of variations in the ratio of zinc and bismuth oxides in the composition of
glass-like ceramics on the shielding characteristics revealed that the replacement of zinc oxide with bismuth
oxide, leading to an elevation in density of the order of 10 – 15 %, leads to a steep rise in the shielding
efficiency for low-energy gamma rays (more than 120 %), and to a 15 – 17 % growth in shielding efficiency
in the case of gamma-quanta shielding for which the main interaction mechanisms are the Compton effect
and the formation of electron – positron pairs.
