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A semi-empirical model for a 90Sr beta-

particle transmission thickness gauge for
aluminum alloys

Article in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with
Materials and Atoms January 2004
DOI: 10.1016/S0168-583X(03)01582-9

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 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 213 (2004) 357363
www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb

A semi-empirical model for a 90Sr beta-particle

transmission thickness gauge for aluminum alloys
R.P. Gardner *, W.A. Metwally, A. Shehata
Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes (CEAR), Nuclear Engineering Department, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC 27695-7909, USA

Abstract

A semi-empirical model is derived and tested for a 90 Sr beta-particle transmission thickness gauge for aluminum
alloys. Monte Carlo simulation is also used to verify the forward scatter part of the model. The model accurately
accounts for thickness as well as forward scatter, gamma-ray background, and the measurement interference of sample
density and composition. The model parameters are obtained and the model is benchmarked with industrial experi-
mental data from a 90 Sr(90 Y) gauge.
2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2. Semi-empirical model

Beta-particle transmission gauges have long
been used and are industrially very important [2,3]
for measuring and controlling the thickness of
rolled products such as paper, plastic, and metal.
Beta-particle sources of industrial importance in
this application include 90 Sr(90 Y), 204 T1, 85 Kr and
147
Pm. While several exponential and linearized
models have been proposed and used for calibra-
tion purposes, the authors are not aware of any
models that explicitly account for composition and
the forward scatter inherent to beta-particle
The semi-empirical model proposed and tested
here is based on the use of fundamental macro-
scopic cross-sections for the basic interactions of
beta-particles, combined with the assumption that
the transmission of beta-particles is exponential up
to some characteristic maximum range.
The fundamental macroscopic cross-sections
for two basic interactions are used. They are: (1)
scattering and (2) attenuation. The form of the
scattering interaction XS is taken as
Xn

transmission gauges. XS wi Zi2 =Ai ; 1

i1

where wi , Zi and Ai are the weight fraction, atomic

number and atomic mass of element i in the sam-
ple, respectively. The form of the attenuation in-
teraction XA is taken as
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-919-515-3378; fax: +1-919- X
n
515-5115. XA wi Zi =Ai : 2
E-mail address: gardner@ncsu.edu (R.P. Gardner). i1

0168-583X/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0168-583X(03)01582-9
358 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363

The XS parameter accounts primarily for large where kA and kS are constants for a given beta-
angle scatter while the XA parameter accounts particle transmission gauge. The model then be-
primarily for small energy losses along a beta- comes
particle path that does not result in signicant
changes of direction. Rt R0 expkA XA qt  kS XS qt B: 5

2.1. Thin-beam or good geometry
For a beta-particle transmission gauge with
thin-beam geometry, the basic gauge response Rt
is taken as
Rt R0 expl=qqt B;
3 sent model. However, the present model already
where q is sample density in g/cm , t is the sample
thickness in cm, l is the semi-empirical sample
attenuation coecient in cm1 and B is the back-
ground response. This model is modied to include
sample composition explicitly by substituting for
l=q:
l=q kA XA kS XS ;
Note that no energy dependence is given in this
model. It is reasoned that one eective energy can
be considered and, therefore, energy dependence in
the model can be omitted. This could be modied
if found necessary to include two or more eective
3 energies by using the sum of multiples of the pre-
contains six unknown parameters (R0, kA , XA , kS ,
XS and B) that must be obtained from experi-
mental data and this must be increased to account
for the two beta-particle spectra of the 90 Sr(90 Y)
sources.
When the two beta-particle spectra present in a
4 90
Sr(90 Y) source are considered, one must use the

1000
Experiment
Transmission Model

900

800 R =491.0Exp(18.0X t1.32X t)

T A S

+491.0Exp(3.85X t0.283X St)

A

700 +18.0Exp(0.0414XAt)

600
RESPONSE (CDS)

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2
SAMPLE DENSITY X THICKNESS (g/cm )

Fig. 1. Experimental data compared to transmission semi-empirical model.

 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363
sum of two transmission terms. The model then
becomes
Rt R0expk1A XA qt  k1S XS qt
expk2A XA qt  k2S XS qt B;
where the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the rst and
second beta-particle spectra, respectively. This
model contains two additional parameters for a
total of eight.
In the case of the 90 Sr (90 Y) source, there is a
small amount of gamma radiation (a 2.1862-MeV
gamma-ray) associated with the source, so an ex-
ponential attenuation term must be added for it as
well. Now the model becomes
Rt R0expk1A XA qt  k1S XS qt
expk2A XA qt  k2S XS qt
kc explc XA qt B;
250
200
150
RESIDUALS (CDS)
100
50
0
0 0.1
Fig. 2. Residuals of experimental data and transmission semi-empirical model.
359
where kc and lc are parameters associated with the
gamma-ray response. The linear attenuation co-
ecient lc for pure aluminum is 0.0414 cm1 . Now
the model has two additional parameters for a
6 total of 10. If we assume that lc is constant and
equal to the value for pure aluminum, and that XA
and XS are known for a given known sample, we
still have seven parameters in the model that must
be determined by the least-squares analysis of data
from standard known samples.
2.2. Broad-beam or poor geometry
In the case of broad-beam geometry, one also
has an added forward scatter component. The
form of this component is taken as
a
F t CS XS qt R0 expcA XA qt  cS XS qt:
7 8
Residuals=R ExperimentRTransmission Model
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2
SAMPLE DENSITY X THICKNESS (g/cm )
360 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363
With this modication the nal total model for the
broad-beam 90 Sr beta-particle transmission gauge
becomes
Rt R0expk1A XA qt  k1S XS qt
expk2A XA qt  k2S XS qt
CS XS qta R0 expcA XA qt  cS XS qt
kc explc XA qt kN : 9 ication and extension of the code CURFIT
So the nal model contains 11 parameters that
must be determined from a least-squares t to
experimental data seven nonlinear and four lin-
ear. One of the nonlinear parameters might be
taken as zero and omitted the coecient CS for
the scatter attenuation in the forward scatter re-
sponse. One might also make the parameter a
unity or some other xed integer. If these two
things are done (cS 0 and a 1), the number of
parameters is reduced to nine, six nonlinear and
three linear.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the Monte Carlo simulation
process.
3. Determination of model parameters
The model parameters were determined using
the code CURMOD developed at CEAR, which is
a code that is capable of determining nonlinear
parameters by a nonlinear (Marquardt) search
while simultaneously determining the linear pa-
rameters by a linear method. This code is a mod-
described in the text by Bevington [1] which was
based on the algorithm suggested by Marquardt
[4] for optimal nonlinear searching by optimum
combined use of gradient and linearized methods.
Other codes familiar to the authors that search
on multiple model parameters when some of the
parameters are nonlinear, must do so by using the
nonlinear search method for all parameters. For
example, the sample problem in Bevington [1] does
this. This approach has the disadvantage that each
new nonlinear parameter that is introduced to a
model increases the degree of diculty by almost
an order of magnitude.
4. Model t results
4.1. Initial tting without forward scatter
An extensive set of data from a prototype 90 Sr
beta gauge was obtained from Alcoa for a range of
thicknesses from 0 to 130 mils and for seven alu-
minum alloys including alloy numbers 1100, 1145,
1199, 2024, 2036, 7146 and 7178. These data were
rst used with the model of Eq. (7) without the
forward scatter portion. It was clear that the t
was very poor in this case. Examination of the t
residuals showed a large smooth swing from pos-
itive to negative and back to positive. The resid-
uals clearly showed a structure that was not due to
the uniform random uctuation that one would
expect from just Poisson counting rate uctua-
tions. Unfortunately, one cannot get an accurate
description of the missing feature from residuals
obtained in this manner.
A dierent approach was used to obtain a more
accurate description of the missing feature(s). That
approach involved using a simplied transmission
model utilizing the attenuation coecients re-
 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363
ported for 90 Sr in standard texts (like [3]) and a
trial-and-error stripping method. (The model used
is Eq. (7) with R0 491:0, k1A 18:0, k1S 1:32,
k2A 3:85, k2S 0:283, kc 18:0, lc 0:0414 and
B 0.) With this approach the model t shown in
Fig. 1 with the residuals shown in Fig. 2 were
obtained. It then occurred to the authors that the
missing feature was probably caused by forward
scatter.
4.2. Monte Carlo simulation of forward scatter
To further substantiate this idea, a simple
Monte Carlo simulation of the forward scatter was
attempted. In this simulation the beta-particle
emission angle was assumed to be isotropic from
0 to 90, the beta-particle energy was chosen from
the pertinent distribution by rejection, the pene-
250
200
150
RESIDUALS (CDS)
100
50
0
0 0.1 0.2
Fig. 4. Residuals of experimental data compared to Monte Carlo simulation of forward scattering.
361
tration distance into the aluminum alloy sheet
before a large angle scatter was chosen from the
pertinent exponential distribution with the ap-
propriate linear attenuation coecient, the large
angle scatter was chosen from an isotropic distri-
bution, the scatter energy loss was calculated from
the appropriate energy balance equation, and at-
tenuation to and from the large angle scatter to-
ward the detector within the aluminum sheet was
calculated from the appropriate simplied power
law range equation. A schematic diagram of this
process is shown in Fig. 3.
The results of this Monte Carlo simulation are
shown compared to the values obtained experi-
mentally by the previously described approach in
Fig. 4. The Monte Carlo results were normalized,
but the shape of the predicted forward scatter
for both approaches matches well, verifying that
Residuals
Monte Carlo Simulation
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2
SAMPLE DENSITY X THICKNESS (g/cm )
362 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363

forward scatter is an integral part of the gauge b qt  R

model. A t of the residuals data was made with
the model of Eq. (8) and is shown in Fig. 5. The
parameters for Eq. (8) were found to be CS R0
408:0, a 0:5853, cA 3:09 and cS 0:409.
4.3. Final model t
With this verication of forward scatter, the
model of Eq. (9) was used on the experimental
data to obtain a general model. The least-squares
model results gave values for the parameters
of R0 491:4, k1A 17:0, k1S 1:22, k2A
4:22, k2S 0:302, CS R0 408:88, a 0:636,
cA 3:04, cS 0:400, and kc 17:4. There was no
background kN since the method that was used to
report the data automatically eliminated it. The
data were reported as
b 0
R
Rqt ; 10
b
R 1  Rb 0
where the hats refer to raw data.
The t results are compared with the experi-
mental data in Fig. 6 and indicate a very good t.
The dierences shown in Fig. 6 do exhibit a slight
shape other than uniform randomness. This indi-
cates that either the model is not perfect or the
model parameters obtained are not optimal.
5. Discussion of results and conclusions
The model t results indicate that the model is
quite good and that it should provide a very gen-
eral model for the 90 Sr transmission beta-particle

250
Experiment
Model

A
RS=A4(XSt) 3 Exp(A1XAtA2XSt)
200
A1=3.0944576, A2=0.4092344
A =0.5853393, A =408.0195316
3 4

ChiSquare=0.116

150
RESIDUALS (CDS)

100

50

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2
SAMPLE DENSITY X THICKNESS (g/cm )

Fig. 5. Residuals of experimental data compared to semi-empirical forward scattering model.

 R.P. Gardner et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 213 (2004) 357363 363

1000
Experiment
Model
Differences X 10

800 RC=491.4Exp(17.0XAt1.22XSt)
+491.4Exp(4.22XAt0.302XSt)
+408.88(X t)0.636Exp(3.04X t0.400X t)
S A S
+17.4Exp(0.0414XAt)

600
RESPONSE (CDS)

400

200

200
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
2
SAMPLE DENSITY X THICKNESS (g/cm )

Fig. 6. Experimental data compared to complete semi-empirical model and dierences.

gauge capable of accounting for the measure- References

ment interferences of density and composition
variation in a wide range of aluminum alloys. [1] P.R. Bevington, Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the
Physical Sciences, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New
York, 1969.
[2] J.F. Cameron, C.G. Clayton, Radioisotope Instruments,
Pergamon Press, New York, 1971.
Acknowledgements
[3] R.P. Gardner, R.L. Ely Jr, Radioisotope Measurement
Applications in Engineering, Reinhold Publishing Corpora-
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support tion, New York, 1967.
of Dr. C.L. Dobbs and J. Szalanski of Alcoa. [4] D.W. Marquardt, J. Soc. Ind. Appl. Math. 11 (2) (1963) 431.

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