Assessment of Mass Attenuation Coefficient, Effective Atomic Number and Electron Density of Some Aluminum Alloys

Abstract

Aluminum alloys have numerous application fields in today's technology due to their excellent mechanical features, high electrical and thermal conductivity, magnificent corrosion resistance, good weldability, good formability and similar properties. In the present study, we investigated the mass attenuation coefficient (µm), effective atomic number (Zeff) and effective electron density (Ne) of four different type commercially available aluminum alloys. For his purpose, µm, Zeff, and Ne values of 5083, 5754, 6061 and 6082 coded aluminum alloys were determined by employing NaI(Tl) gamma ray spectrometry at 661.66,1173.23 and 1332.48 keV gamma ray energies obtained from 137Cs and 60Co radioactive sources. Also these parameters theoretically determined using PhyX-PSD computer program at the photon energies of 1 keV–1 GeV and compared with the experimental results. The variation of µm, Zeff, and Ne with incident photon energy presented graphically. From the obtained results it might be concluded that the µm, Zeff, and Ne values for studied alloy samples depend on the incident photon energy and elemental composition of alloys. In addition, it was observed from the theoretical and experimental results that aluminum alloys under study have almost the same gamma ray attenuation capacity.