A study on photon attenuation coefficients of different wood materials with different densities

Abstract

A study on the variation of linear attenuation coefficients with the densities of the wood samples is under taken. The soft wood and hard wood samples were collected from the forest area of Pakal in Warangal district. The linear and mass attenuation coefficients are measured using gamma ray spectrometry based on NaI (Tl) scintillation detector with energies of 662 KeV and 59.5 KeV respectively. The mass attenuation coefficient values measured from experiment and are compared with theoretical methods using XCOM program. The plots of density versus linear attenuation coefficient for different wood materials correspond to higher order polynomial are presented. It is observed that variation of linear attenuation coefficient depends on densities of materials. The Chloroxylon swietenia with more density has more linear attenuation coefficient at 59.5 KeV and 662 KeV. The variation in attenuation coefficient attributed to chemical composition of wood used in the experiment.