An investigation of some ionizing radiation interaction parameters in selected composite scintillation materials

In this study, the interaction parameters of neutrons, charge particles and gamma rays in seven inorganic scintillation materials with densities ranged from 3.86 to 8.30 g/cm3 were theoretically examined. SRIM Monte Carlo software was used to determine the range of $ {H<^> + },H{e<^>{ + + }},A{u<^> + }and\textrm{ }\,{O<^>{ - - }} $ H+,He++,Au+andO-- ions in the energy range (0.01-20) MeV, Phy-X/PSD while Py-MLBUF computer programs were used to estimate gamma radiation interaction parameters in the energy range (0.02-15) MeV. The electron total stopping power and range values at energies ranging from 0.01 to 1000 MeV were calculated using the ESTAR NIST program. The fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRCS) and the macroscopic effective removal cross-section (MRCS) were calculated using the Phy-X/PSD and MRCS tools, respectively. The outcomes of this research showed that the range of $ {H<^> + },H{e<^>{ + + }},A{u<^> + }and\textrm{ }\,{O<^>{ - - }} $ H+,He++,Au+andO-- ions increased with decreasing sample density but decreased with increasing projectile energies; the largest range of $ {H<^> + } $ H+is 2090 mu m in the lowest density S1 sample, while the range of $ \textrm{ }A{u<^> + } $ Au+ is 5.16 mu m in the same sample. The denser sample S7 had the highest stopping power and the lowest range at higher electron energies. The S1 sample had the highest calculated HVL value of 5.403 cm, while the S7 sample had the lowest calculated HVL value of 0.0008 cm. Rising sample density causes the MAC to rise, while rising gamma energy causes the MAC to decrease. The highest MAC value recorded was 107 cm2/g at 0.015 MeV in the S7 sample, and the lowest value recorded was 0.0369 cm2/g at 15 MeV in the S1 sample. For all inorganic scintillation samples at particular gamma energies, the standard deviations for the MAC, HVL and Zeff values between the Phy-X/PSD and, Py-MLBUF programs were calculated. With energy range variation, the results for Zeff for the two samples S2 and S4 appeared to be constant. Regards to the fast neutrons, the heights value's of FNRCS, and MRCS were recorded for S7.

Automated summary

In this study, the interaction parameters of neutrons, charge particles, and gamma rays in seven inorganic scintillation materials were examined using different calculation software. The results showed that the range of ions and the stopping power of electrons varied with sample density and projectile energies. Additionally, the mass attenuation coefficients of the materials were influenced by the energy of gamma radiation. There were also discrepancies in the results obtained from different calculation programs.