Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274

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Annals of Nuclear Energy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anucene

Determination of total mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic

numbers and electron densities for different shielding materials
Y. Elmahroug a,⇑, B. Tellili a,b, C. Souga c
a
Université de Tunis El Manar, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Unité de Recherche de Physique Nucléaire et des Hautes Energies, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia
b
Université de Tunis El Manar, Institut Supérieur des Technologies Médicales de Tunis, 1006 Tunis, Tunisia
c
Université de Carthage, École Polytechnique de Tunisie, B.P. 743-2078 La Marsa, Tunisia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, the interaction of gamma rays with some shielding materials has been studied. The total
Received 17 November 2013 mass attenuation coefficient (lt ) for eight shielding materials has been calculated by using WinXCOM
Received in revised form 7 August 2014 program in the energy range from 1 keV to 100 GeV. Also, the effective atomic number (Z eff ) and the effec-
Accepted 12 August 2014
tive electron density (N eff ) were calculated using the values of the total mass attenuation coefficient. The
Available online 13 September 2014
dependence of these parameters on the incident photon energy and the chemical composition has been
examined.
Keywords:
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Total mass attenuation coefficients
Effective atomic number and electron
density

1. Introduction
With the increasing use of gamma radiation in various applica-
tions such as industry, medicine, agriculture, nuclear reactors and
particle accelerators, the exposure for longer duration of these
radiations can cause very harmful effects on human health. There-
fore, the use of shielding becomes a paramount thing to use these
radiations without risk. A variety of materials can be used for pro-
tection against gamma rays radiations. To choose an appropriate
type of shielding material, the energy of radiation must be taken
in consideration. Indeed, the effectiveness of the shielding material
is determined by the interactions between the incident radiation
and the atoms of the absorbing medium. The interactions which
occur depend essentially on the radiation energy, the chemical
composition and the density of the material. Thus, the knowledge
of the parameters of shielding such as the total mass attenuation
coefficient, the effective atomic number, the electron density, is
absolutely necessary.
For shielding from gamma rays, the best materials are those
that are composed of heavy elements. In this work, the interaction
of gamma rays with some shielding materials has been investi-
gated. These materials are both absorbers of gamma rays and fast
neutrons, in fact, they contain hydrogen which is the most effective
‘moderator’ because its mass is almost the same as that of the
neutron and they contain boron which is a suitable absorber of
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: youssef_phy@hotmail.fr (Y. Elmahroug).
thermal neutrons. Also, they are heavy elements such as Mn, Fe,
Zn and Sr which are good absorbers of gamma radiation. These
types of materials are useful in a large variety of applications. They
are materials which are widely used as a neutron and gamma rays
shielding in nuclear power plants, particle accelerators, research
reactors, neutrons source and medical facilities. These materials
are characterized by a good durability for neutron and gamma
ray irradiation, a high heat resistance and a high mechanical
strength. These materials were chosen for this study because they
are used in several applications. The chemical compositions of the
eight types of shielding materials were obtained from Bladewerx
company and have been tabulated in Table 1. The aim of this study
is to make a comparison between these materials in order to know
the materials that are effective for gamma rays shielding.
The attenuation parameters of fast neutron for these materials
are already calculated. In this study, the mass attenuation coeffi-
cients (lt ) of eight materials which are: Flexi-boron, 7.5% Lithum
Polythylene, 8.97% Borated Flexi Panel, Self Extinguishing Borated
Polythylene, 5.45% Borated Polyethylene, High Temperature Boron
Silicone, Polykast Dry Mix and Field castable Heat Resistant shield-
ing, has been determined theoretically by using WinXCom code
which is a Windows version of the XCOM database (Gerward
et al., 2001, 2004). This code is used to calculate the cross sections
of photons interactions with matter and it can also calculate the
attenuation coefficient of gamma rays for the chemical elements
(Z = 1–100), compound and mixtures at energies from 100 keV
to 100 GeV (Gerward et al., 2001, 2004). The (Z eff ) and (N eff ) were
determined by using the values of (lt ).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2014.08.015
0306-4549/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274 269

Table 1
Chemical composition (%) of the eight shielding materials.

Element Flexi- 7.5% Lithium 8.97% Borated Self Extinguishing 5.45% Borated High Temperature Polykast Field castable Heat
Boron Polyethylene Polyethylene Borated Polythylene Polyethylene Boron Silicone Dry Mix Resistant shielding
H 2.76 7.84 6.68 5.84 5.72 4.74 10.3 3.37
Li – 7.5 – – – – – –
B 25.3 – 8.97 1 5.45 1.08 0.9 1.56
C 20.1 57.76 27.2 18.02 25.96 11.01 46 –
N – – 5.28 – – – – –
O 24.2 26.13 51.9 47.83 39.69 46.56 32.5 58.7
Na – – – 0.19 0.23 0.12 – 0.59
Mg – – – 0.14 0.76 – 0.04 0.5
Al – – – 24.94 11.92 18.75 0.03 23.9
Si 26.9 – – 0.26 1.37 17.54 0.43 2.13
S – – – 0.02 0.13 – 3.99 0.19
Ca – – – 1.53 8.37 – 5.72 8.83
Fe 0.41 – – 0.02 0.09 0.02 0.05 0.27
Zn 0.26 – – – – 0.1 – –
Sr – – – 0.1 0.53 – – –

Flexi-Boron
7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
103 Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding
102

101

100

10-1

10-2 -3
10-2 10-1 0
101 102 103 4
10 10 10 105

Fig. 1. Variation of total mass attenuation coefficients versus incident photon energy for some shielding materials.

The total mass attenuation coefficients (lt ), the effective atomic
numbers (Z eff ) and the effective electron densities (Z eff ), are the
fundamental parameters which characterize the penetration of
gamma rays in the shielding materials. The (lt ) is a measure of
the probability of interactions of photon with matter and it is
measured in (cm2 =g) (Hubbell, 1999, 1982; Hubbell and Seltzer,
1995). This coefficient is not constant but depends on the incident
photon energy, the material density and the atomic number of ele-
ments. But for compound and mixtures, it depends on the effective
atomic number (Z eff ). The idea of this number is to assume that a
compound or a mixture can be considered as a simple element
characterized by the atomic number (Z eff ), but it is not constant,
it varies with the incident photon energy. The notion and the
theoretical expression of this parameter were suggested by Hine
(1952). The effective atomic number is related to another
important physical parameter called effective electron density
(N eff ) which is defined as the electron per unit mass of the target
material (Akkurt, 2009; Akkurt and El-Khayatt, 2013b; Gowda
et al., 2005, 2004; Içelli et al., 2011; Manohara et al., 2008).
2. Theoretical method
During its passage through a material medium, a photon
undergoes several interactions such as photoelectric absorption,
coherent scattering, incoherent scattering and pair production. If
a photon beam having an initial intensity I0 penetrates the matter,
it will be attenuated and its intensity decreases exponentially
according to the exponential law:
llinear
I ¼ I0 eð q Þqx ¼ I elt d
0 ð1Þ
270 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274

Total
103 Scattering Coherent
Scattering Incoherent
PhotoelectricAbsorption
102 Pair Production in Nuclear Field
Pair Production in Electron Field

101

100

-1
10

10-2

10-3

10-4

10-5

10-6 -3
10 10-2 10-1 100 101 102 103 104 105

Fig. 2. The variation of total and partial mass attenuation coefficient of Pure versus incident photon energy.

!
This is called the Beer–Lambert law, where I is the transmitted 1 X X f j Aj
intensity, ðllinear Þ is the linear attenuation coefficient in cm1 ; q is re ¼ wi ð5Þ
NA i j
Zj
the material density in g  cm3 , x is the thickness of the absorbing
medium, d is the mass per unit area (g cm2 ) and lt ¼ llinear =q is
the total mass attenuation coefficient (cm2 =g). For a chemical mix- where f i and Z i are respectively the fractional abundance and the
ture composed of various elements and compounds as our case, the atomic number of the element ith.
total mass attenuation coefficient of the mixture ðlt Þ is given by Finally, the effective electron number or density (N eff ) (the
Hubbell (1999, 1982), Hubbell and Seltzer (1995), Akkurt (2009), electrons number per unit mass, electron/g) is closely related to
Akkurt and El-Khayatt (2013a,b), Gowda et al. (2005, 2004), Içelli the (Z eff ) and it can be found from Akkurt (2009), Akkurt and El-
et al. (2011) and Manohara et al. (2008); Khayatt (2013b), Gowda et al. (2005, 2004), Içelli et al. (2011)
X and Manohara et al. (2008);
lt ¼ wi ðlÞi ð2Þ
i lt Z eff NA
Neff ¼ ¼ P wi ð6Þ
where ðlÞi and wi are respectively the total mass attenuation coef- re i Ai

ficient and the fractional weight of the ith constituent in the mix-
ture, ðlÞi was obtained from WinXCOM.
The effective atomic number, (Z eff ), is defined as the ratio
between the total atomic effective cross-section and the total elec-
tronic effective cross-section (Akkurt, 2009; Akkurt and El-Khayatt,
2013b; Gowda et al., 2005, 2004; Içelli et al., 2011; Manohara et al.,
2008);
ra
Z eff ¼
re
The total atomic cross-section, (ra ), can be evaluated from the
values of the total mass attenuation coefficients by the following
relation (Akkurt, 2009; Akkurt and El-Khayatt, 2013b; Gowda
et al., 2005, 2004; Içelli et al., 2011; Manohara et al., 2008);
lt
ra ¼ P wi
NA i Ai
Similarly, the total electronic cross-section, (re ), is given by the
following formula (Akkurt, 2009; Akkurt and El-Khayatt, 2013b;
Gowda et al., 2005, 2004; Içelli et al., 2011; Manohara et al., 2008);
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The total mass attenuation coefficient
Fig. 1 shows the variation of the total attenuation coefficients
(lt ) with the incident photon energy for all materials used in this
ð3Þ
study. It can be seen from this figure that the attenuation coeffi-
cients depend on the incident photon energy and the chemical
composition of materials. We can also notice that the variation of
(lt ) with the incident photon energy for all materials is almost
identical. The dependence of (lt ) on incident photon energy can
be explained by the dominance of partial processes of interaction
of photons with materials (Photoelectric Absorption, Coherent
ð4Þ
Scatttering, Incoherent Scattering and Pair Production in Nuclear
Field and in Electron Field) as shown in Fig. 2. This figure shows
that there are three energy ranges relative to the partial processes:
low (E < 0:1 MeV), intermediate (0:1 MeV < E < 10 MeV) and high
photon energy (E > 10 MeV).
 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274 271

In the low photon energy region, the (lt ) decrease rapidly with Polythylene and 8.97% Borated Flexi Panel, these jumps are due
the increasing of the incident photon energy. However, several to the absorption K-edge of the high Z-element (Na, Al, S, Si, Ca,
jumps in values of the (lt ) have been observed in the energy range Mn, Fe, Zn and Sr). And we can see from Fig. 3 that the material
from 1 keV to 20 keV for all materials except for 7.5% Lithum Field castable Heat Resistant shielding has the highest value of

Flexi-Boron
7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
103 Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding

102

101

100

10-1 -3
10 10-2 10-1

Fig. 3. The variation of total mass attenuation coefficient versus incident photon energy for some shielding materials at energy range (1 keV to 100 keV).

100
Flexi-Boron
7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding

10-1

10-2 -1
10 100 101

Fig. 4. The variation of total mass attenuation coefficient versus incident photon energy for some shielding materials at energy range (100 keV to 20 MeV).
272 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274

(lt ), while 7.5% Lithum Polythylene has a minimum value of (lt ).
We also note that the difference between the values of the mass
attenuation coefficients of the materials in this region is very large
compared to other regions. As shown in Fig. 2, the low photon
energy region, the photoelectric absorption is the dominant
process and the contribution of other processes is negligible. The
rapid decrease in the attenuation coefficients in this region is
due to the fact that the cross section of the photoelectric absorp-
tion is inversely proportional to the incident photon energy
(E3.5). Furthermore, it is proportional to the atomic number (Z4),

10-1
Flexi-Boron
7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding

10-2
101 102 103 104 105

Fig. 5. The variation of total mass attenuation coefficient versus incident photon energy for some shielding materials at energy range (20 MeV to 105 MeV).

Flexi-Boron
14 7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
12 Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding

10

-3
10-2 10-1 100
1
102 103
4
10 10 10 105

Fig. 6. Variation of the effective atomic number versus incident photon energy for some shielding materials.
 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
10-3 -2
10-1 100
10
Fig. 7. Variation of the effective electron density versus incident photon for some shielding materials.
and this explains the differences in the values of (lt ) and explains
why Field castable Heat Resistant shielding has the largest value
and 7.5% Lithum Polythylene has the smallest value (see Fig. 3).
Indeed, the material Field castable Heat Resistant shielding con-
tains a high concentration of heavy elements, in contrast to 7.5%
Lithum Polythylene, which consists of light elements.
In the intermediate incident photon energies, the (lt ) decreases
slowly with the increase of incident photon energy and the differ-
ence between the values of (lt ) becomes almost zero (see Fig. 4).
This is due to the fact that when the incident photon energy is
between 100 keV and 10 MeV, the Compton Scattering process
(especially incoherent) becomes the dominant mechanism, its par-
tial mass attenuation coefficient decreases slowly with the
increase of incident photon energy (see Fig. 2), and this was attrib-
uted to the fact that the cross section of the Compton Scattering
process is inversely proportional to the incident photons energy
(E1) and it varies linearly with the atomic number Z.
Finally, in the high energy region (20MeV < E), the (lt ) values
increase slowly and become almost constant. As in the region of
low energies, the highest value of (lt ) was observed for Field
castable heat resistant shielding and the minimum value for 7.5%
Lithum Polythylene, and once again the difference between the
coefficients of all materials has become important (see Fig. 5).
These behaviors are related to the Z-dependence of the cross sec-
tion of the Pair Production, which is proportional to Z2.
It can be concluded from these results that among these eight
materials, Field castable Heat Resistant shielding, High Tempera-
ture Boron Silicone and 5.45% Borated Polyethylene are the most
effective for shielding gamma rays.
3.2. The effective atomic number and the effective electron density
The values of (Z eff ) and (N eff ) of the eight materials considered in
this work were calculated using the values of the coefficients. The
273
Flexi-Boron
7,5% % Lithum Polythylene
8,97 % Borated Flexi Panel
Self Extinguishing Borated Polythylene
5,45 % Borated Polyethylene
High Temperature Boron Silicone
Polykast Dry mix
Field castable Heat Resistant shielding
101 102 103 4
10 105
variations of (Z eff ) and (N eff ) with the incident photon energy for
the eight materials are shown respectively in Figs. 6 and 7. We
can see from these Figures that the variations of (Z eff ) and (N eff )
with the photon energy incident are similar, this is quite normal
since these two quantities are related by the Eq. (6). We can also
remark that the variation of (Z eff ) and (N eff ) with the incident pho-
ton energy for all materials is almost identical.
As the case of variation of the (lt ), the variation of (Z eff ) and
(N eff ) can be explained by the predominance of different processes
of photon interaction on different energy regions. In the low
photon energy region, the variations of (Z eff ) and (N eff ) are due to
photoelectric absorption. For this reason the maximum values of
(Z eff ) and (N eff ) were found in this region and the difference
between the values of the (Z eff ) and (N eff ) of the materials in this
region is very large compared to other regions. Also, (Z eff ) and
(N eff ) decrease with the increasing of the incident photon energy
(about up to 100 keV) and several jumps in values of the (Z eff )
and (N eff ) have been observed in the energy range from 1 keV to
20 keV. These jumps are due to the absorption K-edge of the high
Z-elements.
4. Conclusions
In this work, the values of the mass attenuation coefficient (lt )
and the effective atomic number (Z eff ) and the effective electron
density (N eff ) for eight shielding materials have been calculated
in the energy region from 1 keV 100 GeV using WinXCom pro-
gram. The results obtained from this study indicate that these
parameters depend on the incident photon energy; the maximum
values of these parameters are obtained in the lower energy region.
Whereas, the minimum values are found at the intermediate ener-
gies (1–10 MeV). We can also conclude from this work that Field
castable Heat Resistant shielding, High Temperature Boron Silicone
274 Y. Elmahroug et al. / Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (2015) 268–274
and 5.45% Borated Polyethylene are good materials for gamma rays
shielding applications.
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