An X-ray and gamma-ray shielding glass, including the following components in weight-%: 10-35% SiO.sub.2; 60-70% PbO; 0-8% B.sub.2O.sub.3; 0-10% Al.sub.2O.sub.3; 0-10% Na.sub.2O; 0-10% K.sub.2O; 0-0.3% As.sub.2O.sub.3; 0-2% Sb.sub.2O.sub.3; 0-6% BaO; and 0.05-2% ZrO.sub.2.

The amorphous, or at least partially crystalline, glass-based joining material is suitable for high-temperature applications, particularly in fuel cells and/or sensors. In addition to SiO.sub.2 and B.sub.2O.sub.3 as glass formers, the joining material similarly contains BaO and CaO, whereby the amount of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 is limited. The joining material has a coefficient of linear thermal expansion of at least 7.0.Math.10.sup.6 K.sup.1 in a range of 20 C. to 300 C. The joining material can be used for joining ferritic high-grade steels and/or chromium-containing alloys and/or ceramics, such as stabilized zirconium oxide and/or aluminium oxide.

In a method of making pixelated scintillators, an amorphous scintillator material in a molten state is pressed into a plurality of cavities defined by a plurality of walls of a mesh array. The molten scintillator material in the plurality of cavities is cooled to form a pixelated scintillator array. An x-ray imager including a pixelated scintillator is also described.

Disclosed is a radiation shielding zinc-barium-borosilicate glass material produced from easily accessible, low-cost and abundantly available starting raw materials, particularly for X-rays and/or gamma rays and/or fast neutrons and/or the like, having unique glass compositions. In particular, disclosed is the use of sodium oxide (Na.sub.2O), silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2), boron oxide (B.sub.2O.sub.3), calcium oxide (CaO), barium oxide (BaO), zinc oxide (ZnO), bismuth oxide (Bi.sub.2O.sub.3), gadolinium oxide (Gd.sub.2O.sub.3) and cerium oxide (CeO.sub.2), which when mixed provides a satisfactory and effective shielding effect against X-rays and/or gamma rays and/or fast neutrons and/or the like.

A glass composition includes gadolinium (Gd), cesium (Cs), or both; and silicon (Si). In the glass composition, in terms of respective oxides thereof, a total content of a gadolinium oxide and a cesium oxide is 1% by mass or more, and a content of a silicon oxide is 30% by mass or more.