Gamma rays’ shielding parameters for some Pb-Cu binary alloys

Binary alloys of xPb-(1-x)Cu where x varies from 0.1 to 0.9 with the increment of 0.1 were prepared. The physical properties and gamma rays’ shielding parameters in terms of density (ρ), attenuation coefficient (μm), mean free path (mfp), half value thickness (HVT), tenth value thickness (TVT), effective atomic number (Zeff), effective electron number (Ne), radiation protection efficiency (RPE) and exposure buildup factor (EBF) were studied for the prepared alloys. Using narrow beam geometry, transmitted photon spectra were recorded with the help of GAMMARAD5 (scintillator detector of NaI(Tl) crystal dimensions 3″ × 3″ having resolution of 6.5% at 662 keV) and radioactive isotopes of Na22 (511 keV), Cs137 (662 keV) and Mn54 (835 keV). These recorded spectra were analysed to compute μm values; which were further used to compute mfp, HVT, TVT, Zeff, Ne (in energy region 1 keV–100 GeV) and EBF (in energy region 15 keV–15 MeV). Good agreement has been observed between the experimentally measured and theoretically generated results. The shielding parameters for the alloy samples were analysed on the basis of chemical composition, energy and penetration thickness. Keywords: Binary alloys, Shielding parameters, Gamma ray spectroscopy