Synthesis, physical, structural and shielding properties of newly developed B2O3–ZnO–PbO–Fe2O3 glasses using Geant4 code and WinXCOM program

New zinc lead borate glasses with (50B2O3–10ZnO–(40 − y) PbO)–yFe2O3: 0 ≤ y ≤ 10 wt%) composition were synthesized by the conventional melt-quench technique. The amorphous nature of the glasses was tested by using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. FTIR spectra for the glasses were recorded in the range of 4000–400 cm−1. Physical properties of the proposed glasses were evaluated. The mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) for the glasses were calculated by the Geant4 simulation toolkit code and XCOM software within the photon energy range 365–2510 keV. Different γ-ray shielding parameters such as half-value layer, tenth value layer, and transmission fraction for the proposed glasses were evaluated using the obtained values of the (μ/ρ). Results reveal that for 1 cm glass thickness, the (50B2O3–10ZnO–30PbO)–10Fe2O3 sample has the highest transmission, due to the lower amount of Pb, and thus poorer shielding capability among the other glass samples. In addition, the probabilities of γ-ray interaction with the studied glasses were investigated.