Determination of effective atomic numbers from mass attenuation coefficients of tissue-equivalent materials in the energy range 60 keV-1.33 MeV

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to establish a cost-effective tissue-equivalent material for phantom fabrication. Effective atomic numbers (Zeff) and effective electron densities (Neff) were calculated based on mass attenuation coefficient values. The linear and mass attenuation coefficients of two samples of paraffin wax and NaCl compositions were measured using Si detector for NaI (Tl) detector of 1.5" resources. Radioactive source was placed in front of detector and the sample was placed between the source and the photomultiplier tube (PMT) of the detector. The real time was set for 6000 seconds. The photopeak, full width at half maximum (FWHM) and net area of photopeak were measured using Meastro software. The attenuation coefficient values obtained from this study were used to calculate Zeff and Neff of paraffin wax and NaCl compositions. The measured results were compared with the theoretical values from XCOM and ICRU Report 44. The relative percentage difference of mass attenuation coefficients between experimental and human tissue for both paraffin wax and NaCl mixture are below 5%, whereas the relative percentage difference of Zeff and Neff are above 5%. The measured values of Zeff and Neff of paraffin wax and NaCl help us to establish the optimal mixtures to fabricate a cost-effective tissue-equivalent material.