Investigation of the gamma-ray shielding performance of the B$_2$O$_3$-Bi$_2$O$_3$-ZnO-Li$_2$O glasses based on the Monte Carlo approach

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to investigate the shielding performance of the B$_2$O$_3$-Bi$_2$O$_3$-ZnO-Li$_2$O glasses as gamma shields. To this end, the attenuation parameters of the gamma-ray for B$_2$O$_3$-Bi$_2$O$_3$-ZnO-Li$_2$O glasses were calculated from the results of the simulation performed by MCNPX computer code. To validate the simulation, the calculated values of mass attenuation coefficients in the energy range of 200 keV to 1500 keV were compared with the XCOM data base. The relative deviation between the results of simulation using the MCNPX and the XCOM database was 2%. Additionally, the mean free path (MFP) and half-value layer (HVL) parameters were calculated. The results show that among the examined samples, the B$_4$ glass sample has the best shielding performance. From the results of the calculation, it can be understood that the addition of compound Li$_2$O to compound B$_2$O$_3$-Bi$_2$O$_3$-ZnO-Li$_2$O has a huge impact on the shielding performance of the examined glass versus gamma-rays. In addition, the results show that the existing B$_2$O$_3$-Bi$_2$O$_3$-ZnO-Li$_2$O glasses will have a promising outlook as gamma rays shield due to the possibility of changing the weight percentage of Li$_2$O in them.