Thickness optimization of Sn–Pb alloys for experimentally measuring mass attenuation coefficients

Abstract

An attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the optimum thickness in order to measure mass attenuation coefficients for some Sn–Pb alloy systems at incident photon energies 122, 511 and 662keV. The Sn–Pb alloys were synthesized with different compositions and different thicknesses using melt-quench technique and cast iron mould. The physical parameters such as mass, thickness, density have been measured for all the prepared alloys. Further, the transmitted photon spectra of Cs-137, Co-57 and Na-22 radioactive isotopes were recorded using GAMMARAD5 (scintillator detector) of dimensions 76mm×76mm with and without inserting different alloy samples between the radioactive isotopes and detector. The experimental results so obtained were compared with the theoretical ones of WinXCom and optimum thickness for measuring mass attenuation coefficients for the selected alloys has been recommended.

Keywords

• Gamma-rays
• Mass attenuation coefficients
• Binary alloys
• Optimum thickness