Design and characterization of eco-friendly phospho-silicate glasses modified with TiO2 in the CaO-MgO-P2O5-SiO2 system for radiation shielding protection.

The primary objective of this work is to develop eco-friendly and cost-effective glasses for radiation shielding. The phosphosilicate non-crystalline materials were prepared based on the 30CaO-(20-X)MgO-XTiO2-5P2O5-45SiO2 glass system (where X = 0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0 mol%). The effect of adding various TiO2 contents on physical properties, optical power, and radiation mitigation efficiency was studied. XRD examination established the vitreous nature of all investigated samples. The results showed that the density, oxygen packing density, and field strength improved with increased TiO2 content up to 6.0 mol %, attributed to tightening of the glass network strength. The UV-visible spectra show nearly overlapping absorbance spectra with a steep absorption edge around 350-400 nm, strong UV absorption, and high transparency through the visible-NIR. The evaluation of the neutron shielding performance was carried out using Phy-X/PSD for photon energies between 0.015 and 15 MeV. Radiation defense parameters, including linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), tenth value layer (TVL), and effective atomic number (Zeff), were calculated. Radiation parameters demonstrate that the addition of titanium dioxide significantly improves the performance of phospho-silicate glass in mitigating gamma radiation. The results indicate that the prepared glass has great potential as an effective, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly material for radiation mitigation applications, compared to some existing shielding materials and glass systems.