The Impact of B ₂ O ₃ Substitution with PbO ₂ on the Radiation Shielding Efficacy of Glasses: Experiential and Monte Carlo Simulation Investigations

In this work, PbO2-rich (11 to 20 mol %) BaO + CaO + B2O3 + Y2O3 glasses were synthesized via the melt quenching method. The experimental measurements using a NaI(Tl) detector and Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) simulation were employed to evaluate shielding parameters across the energy interval, which varied from 0.356 to 1.332 MeV. Both the experimental and simulated data confirm that the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) of BBaCaYPb20 decreased from 0.734 ± 0.086 cm−1 at 0.356 MeV to 0.250 ± 0.004 cm−1 at 1.332 MeV. The measured NaI(Tl) results agreed within ±12% of the MCNP data. At 0.662 MeV, the prepared BBaCaYPb glasses outperformed several commercial radiation protection glasses, with LAC values up to 0.418 cm−1. Furthermore, increasing the PbO2 concentration improved shielding performance by reducing the half-value layer and tenth-value layer values, and raising radiation protection efficiency by up to 18%.