## 3 Results and Discussion
### Radiation Shielding Attributes
the highest TF was achieved at higher gamma photon energies (1.406 MeV) and varied in the range of 85.720-87.563% for glasses SCNSb0 and SCNSb10, respectively. The direct proportion between the TF and the incoming energy results from the photon penetration power (PP) that increases with an increase in the incoming photon energy and a decrease in the photon wavelength (\(\lambda\)) (\(PP\propto\frac{E}{\lambda}\)). The glass thickness is another factor that has a significant effect on the value of TF. As mentioned in Figure 9, the TF is inversely proportional to the sample thickness. Thus, the biggest TF was reported for thinner glasses, while the lowest TF was achieved for thicker glasses. For the SCNSb10 glass (as an example), the TF decreased from 64.314 to 11.003% when the thickness increased from 1 to 5 cm, respectively, at 0.248 MeV. The inverse relation between the glass thickness and the TF is related to the number of collisions between the photons and the glass atoms in each thickness. The number of collisions for thicker glasses is greater than those of the thinner samples. The HVL predicts the glass material's width needed to minimize the photon intensity to half of its incoming value. As shown in Figure 10, the HVL is affected by the incoming photon energy and the material composition. Figure 10 illustrates a positive correlation between the simulated HVL and the photon energies. As previously mentioned, the straight proportion is due to CS interactions. The thinnest HVL was noticed at 0.248 MeV, while the thickest HVL was achieved at high energy (1.406 MeV). The thinner values of the HVL varied between 1.570-2.402 cm, while the thickest HVL varied between 4.498-5.219 cm for glasses SCNSb10 and SCNSb0, respectively. The material composition also has a remarkable effect on the predicted HVL values. The replacement of SiO\({}_{2}\) with Sb\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) helps to enhance the material density and the electron density of the investigated samples. Thus, the number of gamma photon collisions increases, resulting in more attenuation of the incoming photons. As mentioned in Figure 10, the thinnest HVL was achieved for SCNSb10 glasses with 10 mol % Sb\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), while the thickest HVL was achieved for the SCNSb0 glass without Sb\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) content. Figure 8: Correlation between simulated and calculated MAC for glass SCNSb10 as an example. The mean free path (MFP) is used to predict the average distance between two gamma collisions. We can connect the MFP with the HVL via the relationship (\(MFP=\frac{\rm{HVL}}{\rm{ln}(2)}\)). Thus, the MFP's estimated values have a similar trend and discussion, as presented in the HVL section (see Figure 11). The smallest distance between two gamma collisions was achieved for the SCNSb10 glass and varied in the range 2.265-6.490 cm, while the most significant distance obtained varied in the range between 3.466-7.529 cm and was achieved for the  
Figure 10: Variation of the HVL of the studied glasses as a function of the incoming photon energy. Figure 9: Variation of the transmission factor as a function of the glass thickness at some fixed energies: (**a**) 0.248 MeV, (**b**) 0.662 MeV, (**c**) 1.173 MeV, (**d**) 1.406 MeV. SCNSb0 sample. To check the effectiveness of the current glass systems, the MFP of the studied glasses has been compared to a commercial shielding material (RS253-G18) and a previously prepared shielding material (Borax 40) [31]. As illustrated in Figure 11, the highest MFP was achieved for the Borax 40 glass, while the lowest MFP was achieved for SCNSb10 glass samples. The comparison proved that the studied glasses, SCNSb0-SCNSb10, have MFP values lower than that of Borax 40 and the commercial shielding material RS253-G18. The dose rate received by exposure from a radioactive source without protection is assumed to be 100 \(\mu\)Sv/h. The dose rate received from a shielded radioactive source was calculated and plotted in Figure 12. Two factors appear to affect the dose rate received from the radioactive source.