Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Radiation Physics and Chemistry, cilt.243, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This study investigates the radiation-shielding and physical properties of zirconium dioxide-modified borosilicate glasses using combined Monte Carlo particle transport simulations, theoretical calculations, and Artificial Intelligence-based approach. A Na2O–BaO–TiO2–Al2O3–SiO2–B2O3 glass series containing 0−12 mol% ZrO2 was systematically evaluated for photon and charged-particle interactions, as well as its thermophysical and optical properties. The results show that ZrO2 acts as an effective compositional modifier that increases glass density and network compactness, leading to improved macroscopic gamma shielding indicators, as reflected by reduced mean free path, half-value layer, and tenth-value layer values across the 0.2−4 MeV energy range. Notably, Zeff and Neff exhibit a decreasing trend with increasing ZrO2 content, indicating that the observed attenuation gains are primarily density-driven rather than governed by increases in effective atomic descriptors. A strong correlation between GEANT4 Application for Tomographic Emission Monte Carlo results and XCOM data confirms the reliability of the simulation methodology. For charged particles, the stopping power increases at low energies and decreases beyond the peak for protons and alpha particles, while electrons show a decrease up to ∼1 MeV followed by a sharp rise at higher energies, mainly because bremsstrahlung related energy losses become dominant. In parallel, SciGlass Next predictions for viscosity, glass transition temperature, and refractive index indicate that Zr4+ strengthens the glass network and enhances optical density. Overall, controlled ZrO2 incorporation enables concurrent optimization of shielding efficiency and thermophysical/optical performance, highlighting these lead-free glasses as promising candidates for radiation-shielding observation windows and related applications in nuclear technology and medical fields.