Excelet

Attenuation of Radiation in Solid Materials:

I. Shielding of Radiation

initial outgoing
radiation radiation
Ao A

How does the material and its thickness influence the attenuation of the radiation?

What about the type of radiation (alpha, beta, or gamma) too?

This is important for radiation protection.

Click on tabs to navigate!!!

adiation?
Discovering the Influence of Shielding Thickness

thickness of the block of material = 3 cm block of material

Aluminum
2

Investigate:
How does the thickness of a ma
initial count influence the amount of radiatio
Ao = 5000 detector passes through the material?

Generate some data and plot it.

type of relation is revealed?

radioactive source measured count Does the type of material influe

A = 1355.86 results? If so, how?
gamma energy x y
keV 1 8.5 0 3 How about the energy of the inc
100 11.5 0 gamma radiation? Explain.
11.5 10 10 -1
8.5 10 10 11
8.5 0

linear attenuation coefficient

100 keV 200 keV 500 keV
1 Carbon 0.335 0.274 0.196 Sinex 2015
2 Aluminum 0.435 0.324 0.227
3 Copper 3.8 1.309 0.73
4 Lead 59.7 10.15 1.64

0.435 cm-1
 ock of material
um
material:
energy:

12 Activity as a function of thickness

e thickness of a material thickness
amount of radiation that x (cm) A A/Ao
10
gh the material? 0

A/Ao
0 8
me data and plot it. What 0
on is revealed? 0 6
0
0 4
e of material influence the 0
0 2
0
he energy of the incoming 0 0
0 2 4 thickness,
6 x (cm) 8
ation? Explain. 0
as a function of thickness

4 thickness,
6 x (cm) 8 10 12
Influence of the Gamma Energy and Type of Material
radioactive source
initial count gamma energy
Ao = 10000 keV 3 Carbon
thickness 500
x (cm) A A/Ao
0 10000.00 1.0000 Activity as a function of thickness
1.2
1 8220.12 0.8220 linear attenuation coefficient
2 6757.04 0.6757 100 keV 200 keV 500 keV
3 5554.37 0.5554 1 1 Carbon 0.335 0.274 0.196
4 4565.76 0.4566
f(x) = exp( 2-0.196
Aluminum
x ) 0.435 0.324 0.227

A/Ao
5 3753.11 0.3753 0.8 3 Copper 3.8 1.309 0.73
6 3085.10 0.3085 4 Lead 59.7 10.15 1.64
7 2535.99 0.2536 0.6
8 2084.62 0.2085 HVL TVL
9 1713.58 0.1714 0.4 0 -1 0 -1
10 1408.58 0.1409 3.54 -1 11.75 -1
0.2 3.54 -1 11.75 -1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
thickness, x (cm)

The constant in the exponential regression is the linear attenuation coefficient.

= 0.196 cm-1
The value depends on the energy of the radiation too!

Sinex 2015
 block of material
Carbon
1
The behavior of gamma or x-rays, both forms of electromagnetic radiation, follow Lambe

I/Io = A/Ao = e-x where I is intensity of electromagnetic radiation, A is the activity,

attenuation coefficient, cm-1, and x is thickness in cm

In radiation protection, two quantities are calculated:

Half-value layer, HVL

the thickness required to decrease the activity in half, A/2 (this is just like hal

HVL = 0.693/

3.54 cm 0 on graph
show HVL

Tenth-value layer, TVL

the thickness required to decrease the activity by one-tenth. A/10
10 12 14
TVL = 2.303/

enuation coefficient. 11.75 cm 0 on graph

show TVL

Both values depend on the material selected and the energy of the radiation.

nex 2015
gnetic radiation, follow Lambert's Law

tic radiation, A is the activity, is the linear

s thickness in cm

n half, A/2 (this is just like half-life)

by one-tenth. A/10

gy of the radiation.
How does the attenuation coefficient behave?

linear attenuation coefficients, cm -1 mass attenuation coefficient, cm2/g The Task:

Energy Magnesium Iron Silver Magnesium Iron Silver
MV (Z = 12) (Z = 26) (Z = 47) (Z = 12) (Z = 26) (Z = 47) How does the linear attenuation coefficient, LAC, vary with energy?
0.05 0.561 15.200 96.700
0.10 0.292 2.930 15.300 How does the LAC vary with atomic number, Z?
0.15 0.242 1.540 5.600
0.20 0.216 1.150 3.110 Plot a scatter plot of the LAC as a function of energy
0.30 0.186 0.866 1.630 (after plotting, click on each axis and change it to a logarithmic scale)
0.40 0.165 0.740 1.170
0.50 0.150 0.662 0.967 Calculate the mass attenuation coefficient, MAC.
1.00 0.109 0.471 0.621 m = l/
2.00 0.077 0.334 0.440
4.00 0.055 0.260 0.378 What are the units of the MAC?
6.00 0.047 0.239 0.379
10.00 0.040 0.233 0.404 Plot a scatter plot of the MAC as a function of energy
15.00 0.037 0.241 0.445 (after plotting, click on each axis and change it to a logarithmic scale)
30.00 0.037 0.270 0.538
How does the MAC and LAC compare?

density, g/cm3 Why are high Z elements better absorbers of enenrgy?

Mg 1.74
Fe 7.87
Ag 10.49

Sinex 2015