Impact of Varying Bi 2 O 3 and ZnO Concentrations on the Structural, Optical, and Radiation Shielding Properties of B 2 Aljawhara H. Almuqrin, M. I. Sayyed, Ashok Kumar
ABSTRACT
The study prepared B 2 O 3 ‐PbO‐ZnO‐Bi 2 O 3 glasses via melt quenching. With increasing Bi 2 O 3 and ZnO concentrations, there was an increase in density from 5.686 to 6.262 g·cm −3 , and the molar mass from 214.702 to 239.187 g·mol −1 . This led to a 66.208 to 62.309 oxygen packing density decrease and a 15.104 to 16.049 cm 3 ·mol −1 and 0.844 to 0.925 oxygen molar volume, and optical basicity increase, respectively. Mechanical properties showed slight improvements, with Young's, shear, and longitudinal moduli increasing marginally. A 2.764 to 2.730 eV band gap energy decrease was observed, alongside a modest rise in refractive index and dielectric constants. The radiation shielding properties were enhanced by higher Bi 2 O 3 and ZnO contents, as evidenced by increased linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) and radiation protection efficiencies (RPE), confirming the material's improved attenuation capability.