Study of mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic numbers and electron densities of carbon steel and stainless steels

¹ Department of PhysicsKarnatak University, Dharwad 580003, India
² Permanent address: Health Physics Section, Kaiga Atomic Power Station-3&4, NPCIL, Karwar, 581400, India
email: kudphyvps@rediffmail.com

Received: 21 February 2013
Accepted: 19 April 2013

Abstract

The mass attenuation coefficient (µ/ρ), effective atomic number (Z_Pleff) and effective electron density (N_eff) of carbon steel and stainless steels were computed by using the WinXcom program. The µ/ρ values are higher in the photo-electric absorption and pair production region and approximately constant in the Compton scattering region. The variation in µ/ρ values is explained by partial interaction processes. The effective atomic numbers of the steels were also calculated by the Auto-Z_eff program. The Z_Pleff values of the steels were compared with experimental results for available energies and were found to be in good agreement. SS304L shows equal values of effective atomic number by both the methods in the region of interest. The electron densities of the selected steels are observed to be equal and approximately constant in the Compton scattering region.