Determination of effective atomic number of composite materials using backscattered gamma photons – A novel method

Abstract

The effective atomic number (Zeff) of composite materials has been determined by measuring the backscattered gamma photons at 180°. A 661.6 keV gamma photons from 137Cs radioactive source are allowed to scatter at an angle of 180° from the sample. The backscattered photons at 180° from the sample are detected with “2 × 2″ NaI(Tl) scintillation gamma ray spectrometer coupled to 16 K Multi Channel Analyzer (MCA). It is observed experimentally that the intensity of backscattered photons increases initially with increasing the thickness of the target and then it becomes saturated above a certain thickness. By knowing the saturated thickness values for known atomic number of the elemental targets, the Zeff of composite materials has been determined. The experimentally measured Zeff values have been compared with theoretical values predicted by direct method, power law method and AutoZeff code.