Environmentally Friendly and Cost-Effective Gamma Shielding Based on Waste CRT Screen Glasses

In this paper, the gamma radiation shielding properties of S-TV/TiX glasses are investigated at different photon energies using data from FLUKA simulations and the XCOM library. Three samples of TV screen glass (S-TV) doped with TiO₂ were prepared using cold isostatic pressing. The samples were designated as S-TV, S-TV/Ti10, and S-TV/Ti20 for TiO₂ concentrations of 0 wt.%, 10 wt.%, and 20 wt.%, respectively. The gamma radiation transmission data for the samples obtained from FLUKA simulations and the XCOM database were used to compute the mass attenuation coefficient (µ/ρ) of the S-TV/TiX samples. Other photon interaction parameters, including the half-value layer (\({\text{HVL}}\)), mean free path (\(\lambda\)), effective atomic number \((Z_{{{\text{eff}}}}\)), electron density (\(N_{{{\text{eff}}}}\)), specific gamma constants (\({\Gamma }\)), dose rate (\(D_{{\text{r}}}\)), equivalent atomic number (\(Z_{{{\text{eq}}}}\)), exposure (\({\text{EBF}}\)), and energy absorption (\({\text{EABF}}\)) buildup factors were calculated from the µ/ρ data based on standard expressions and procedures. The µ/ρ values were in the range of 0.02442–12.57505 cm²/g, 0.02438–13.54632 cm²/g, and 0.02434–14.50959 cm²/g for S-TV, S-TV/Ti10, and S-TV/Ti20, respectively. Based on the obtained HVLs, it was observed that as the TiO₂ content increased, the glass thickness required to attenuate photons also increased. Analysis of the effective atomic number and electron density showed that the glass sample with lower TiO₂ content exhibited more electron interaction and hence absorbed more photons. The photon scattering potential of the glasses varied with glass composition and gamma energy. The study further showed that the trend of photon scattering ability among the glasses fluctuated at different energies. However, at 1.5 MeV, the glasses with lower TiO₂ content exhibited higher photon buildup factors. In comparison with standard radiation shielding materials such as concrete and glasses, TiO₂-doped S-TV glasses have better gamma absorption capacity and are therefore suitable for gamma-shielding applications, especially for low (keV) energies.