LAUSR

Abstract The mass attenuation coefficients (μ m ), effective atomic cross section (σ a ), effective atomic number (Z eff ) and effective electron density (N eff ) of silicate glasses containing different concentrations of Bi 2 O 3 , PbO, and BaO (30–70% by weight) were obtained using MCNP-4C code, XCOM and XMuDat programs, in the energy range of 10 keV–10 MeV. The interpolation method was employed to extract Z eff and N eff . The Auto-Z eff software was used to determine the Z eff as well. The MCNP-4C Code, XCOM and XMuDat programs and Auto-Z eff results were in good agreement. It was found that the μ m and σ a values decrease with photon energy. Also the results indicate that σ a and Z eff of glasses improve by increasing their Bi 2 O 3 , PbO and BaO contents, while increasing these contents to the same fraction has no significant effect on μ m in the energy range of 0.3–5 MeV, where the Compton Effect takes over as dominant process and N eff do not follow certain rule. Above 0.1 MeV, lead oxide silicate glass showed the highest values of Z eff and σ a . Wherever possible, the simulated and calculated values were compared with experimental data.