Semi-Broad-Beam Gamma Spectrometry of Some Mixtures and Solutions

The 33- and 662-keV X rays and gamma rays from ¹³⁷Cs and the 1173- and 1333-keV gamma rays from ⁶⁰Co have been employed as single and dual beams to study the attenuation of applied materials. These materials are soil containing water, dextrose solutions, and solutions of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, and potassium chloride. In soil the measurements covered water content ranging from saturation to nearly dry points. For dextrose, the content ranged from 0.25 gcm^-3 to zero. For the chloride solutions, the salt mass fraction was varied up to the ratio 0.1667. The setup geometry was arranged with a source-detector angle of 8.63 deg to allow good reception of the 33-keV line. The results were analyzed on the basis of the dependence of the absorption of intensity (intensities) on the content of the added component. The curves are fitted with concentration-dependent expansions, the coefficients of which are tabulated. It is concluded that soft X rays (33 keV) produce the most sensitive responses to concentrations. Correspondingly, a dual energy of 33 and 1250 keV (or 1333 keV) is the preferred combination to detect a desired component in a sample.