The effective atomic number for gamma ray interactions with heavy metal oxide glasses

Abstract

The effective atomic number, Zeff, and the effective electron density, Nel,eff, have been calculated at photon energies from 1 keV to 100 GeV for CaO-SrO-B2O3, ZnO-PbO-B2O 3, and CdO-PbO-B2O3 glasses with potential applications as gamma ray shielding materials. Appreciable variations are noted for all parameters by changing the chemical composition and the photon energy. The calculated parameters are compared with experimental data wherever possible. Comparisons are also made with the single-valued effective atomic number given by the program XMuDat. Finally, it is concluded that lead oxide glasses have gamma ray shielding properties comparable with standard shielding materials, such as concrete.