Computational analysis of radiation shielding properties of BaO-modified magnesium borophosphate glasses based on WinXCOM and EGS4 Monte Carlo simulations

The increasing use of ionizing radiation in medical, industrial, and nuclear applications necessitates the development of advanced and environmentally friendly shielding materials. In this study, the gamma-ray shielding performance of BaO-modified magnesium borophosphate glasses with compositions xBaO–30MgO–10P2O5–(50−x)B2O3–10Na2O (x = 0–35 mol%) was theoretically investigated. The radiation attenuation properties were evaluated over a wide photon energy range (59.54–2000 keV) using the WinXCOM database and Monte Carlo simulations based on the EGS4 code. Key shielding parameters, including mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), radiation protection efficiency (RPE), and gamma-ray kerma coefficients, were determined. The results indicate that increasing BaO content enhances the attenuation capability of the glass system, particularly in the low and medium photon energy regions, due to increased density and effective atomic number. A good agreement between WinXCOM and EGS4 results confirms the reliability of the applied theoretical approaches. These findings suggest that BaO-modified magnesium borophosphate glasses are promising candidates for radiation shielding applications.