Radiation shielding, optical, and physical properties of alkali borate glasses modified with Cu²⁺/Zn²⁺ ions

Three systems of alkali borate glasses containing either 0.15% CuO or ZnO (mol. %) were prepared using melting–annealing technique. Some of the glasses optical, physical, and radiation shielding properties have been interpreted. The optical UV absorbance spectra show a good stability before and after gamma irradiation. Also, many of the glasses physical parameters have been calculated, such as optical energy band gap (E_opt), refractive index (n), optical transmittance coefficient (T), reflection loss (R_L), optical electronegativity (X), metallizatioxn criterion (M_Criterion), static dielectric constant(ε_Static), and optical dielectric constant (ε_Optical). The efficiency of the glasses as radiation shielding materials has been by simulated and discussed by Monte Carlo code (MCNP-5) and calculated theoretically by Phy-X/PSD program, such as linear attenuation coefficient LAC (µ, cm⁻¹), mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), half-value layer (HVL), and fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS, ∑_R (cm⁻¹)). The glasses show close efficiency to shield radiation; however, the difference depends on the significant variation in molecular weight (MW) of the introduced transition metal ion and the effective atomic number of the prepared glasses.