Effects of gamma irradiation on some chemicals using an NaI (Tl) detector

The present work was carried out to find out the gamma ray shielding properties and to study the effects using an NaI (Tl) detector using radioactive sources ⁵⁷Co, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁶⁰Co and ²²Na at energies 122, 356, 511, 662, 840, 1170, 1275 and 1330?keV, for some chemicals, namely, sodium thiosulfate (Na₂S₂O₃), benzoic acid (C₇H₆O₂), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) (C₂H₄O), potassium nitrate (KNO3), naphthalene (C₁₀H₈). Mass attenuation coefficient (µ_m) values obtained from the experiment were used to determine the effective atomic numbers (Z_eff) and effective electron densities (N_eff), atomic cross-sections (σ_t) and electronic cross-sections (σ_e); it will be observed from the present work that the variation in the obtained values is only due to the increase or decrease in the gamma ray energy and the chemical composition of the sample. It was seen that the calculated and obtained values showed good agreement. The investigated data are useful in the electronic industry, plastic industry, building materials and agriculture fields. From the present work it was found that the PVA could be used as a better gamma shielding material.