The Role of the Density of Optical Lead-Containing Flint-Group Glasses in the Formation of Their Quantitative X-Ray and Gamma Radiation Attenuation Characteristics

The dependence of the linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) of X-ray and gamma radiation in the range of photon energies, E, from 0.2 to 3.0 MeV for optical lead-containing glasses of the flint group on their density when it changes from 2.50 to 6.79 g/cm3 is studied. The study is based both on the published data on the LAC of such glasses, and the LAC values of an additional 37 grades obtained in this study using data on the composition of the glasses and their density, as well as the mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) of the oxides included in the glass composition. It is shown that for radiation with photon energies of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 MeV, the LAC values of lead-containing glasses of the flint group fit well onto straight lines depending on their density, whose slope decreases with increasing E. At the same time, glasses such as crown flints (CF), flints (F), heavy flints (HF), and super-heavy flints (SHF) form one subgroup, whereas special flints (SF) form another, whose LAC values for each value of photon energy are slightly lower than those of glasses of the first subgroup at approximately the same density values. Equations are derived that describe these straight lines, allowing the LAC of new lead-containing flint glass to be accurately calculated based on their density. For some grades of glass, at energies E from 0.2 to approximately 0.5 MeV, the LAC values are located slightly above or below these lines. These deviations from straight lines are explained by the differences in the nomenclature and concentrations of “heavy” oxides with their higher MAC values (PbO, Ta2O5, Gd2O3, La2O3, BaO, Sb2O3, CdO, Nb2O5, and ZrO2) in these glasses and in glasses of other grades with similar density, whose LAC values fit well onto straight lines. At energies E from approximately 0.5 to 3.0 MeV, no deviations of the LAC values of these glasses from straight lines are observed.