An industrial radiography system inspects structural steel welds using high-energy X-rays. A copper filter is placed in the beam path to absorb lower energy photons.
Define the term half-value thickness of a shielding material.
The half-value thickness of copper for this specific X-ray beam is 1.8×10−3 m1.8 \times 10^{-3}\text{ m}1.8×10−3 m.
Calculate the mass attenuation coefficient of copper for this beam. State an appropriate unit for your answer.
Density of copper = 8.9×103 kg m−38.9 \times 10^3\text{ kg m}^{-3}8.9×103 kg m−3.
