Determination of mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic and electron numbers for Cr, Fe and Ni alloys at different energies

The total mass attenuation coefficients (mu(m)), for Cr, Fe, Ni and FexNi1-x (x = 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3 and 0.2), FexCryNi1-(x+y) (x = 0.7, y = 0.1; x = 0.5, y = 0.2; x = 0.4, y = 0.3; x = 0.3, y = 0.3; x = 0.2, y = 0.2 and x = 0.1, y = 0.2) and NixCr1-x (x = 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4 and 0.2) alloys were measured at 22.1. 25.0, 59.5 and 88.0 keV photon energies. The samples were irradiated with 10 mCi Cd-109 and 100 mCi AM-241 radioactive point source using transmission arrangement. The gamma- and X-rays were counted by a Si(Li) detector with a resolution of 160 eV at 5.9 keV. Total atomic and electronic cross-sections (sigma(t) and sigma(e)), effective atomic and electron numbers (Z(eff) and N-eff) were determined experimentally and theoretically using the obtained mass attenuation coefficients for investigated 3d alloys. The theoretical mass attenuation coefficients of each alloy were estimated using mixture rule. The experimental values were compared with the calculated values for all samples. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.