Constancy of the Half Value Layer of Cobalt-doped borate glasses with Lanthanum Oxide Additive at Extremely High Radiation Energy

Abstract

Radiation shielding is essential for protecting workers, patients, and the environment from harmful effects of radiation. To achieve effective and non-toxic shielding, scientists are interested in developing lead-free materials with low thickness that can still attenuate radiation. This is where the concept of Half Value Layer (HVL) comes in. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the HVL of Cobalt-doped borate glasses with five different concentrations of Lanthanum oxide (La₂O₃) additive at various energy levels. Phy-X/PSD software was used to simulate radiation exposure and determined the HVL values for energies within the order of 0-10 keV, 10 – 100 keV, 100 keV – 1 MeV, 1 – 10, 10 – 100, 100 – 1,000, 1,000 – 10,000, and 10,000 - 100,000 MeV. The results showed that the HVL values fluctuated depending on the energy range of the incident radiation, but they remained constant within a mean value at extremely high energies. These findings can help manufacturers to determine the appropriate thicknesses and the amounts of (La₂O₃) additive for different applications of this glass system.