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Tables of X-Ray Mass Attenuation Coefficients
and Mass Energy-Absorption Coefficients
from 1 keV to 20 MeV for Elements Z = 1 to 92
and 48 Additional Substances of Dosimetric Interest*

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J. H. Hubbell⁺ and S. M. Seltzer
Radiation and Biomolecular Physics Division, PML, NIST

© 1989, 1990, 1996 copyright by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on behalf of the United States of America. All rights reserved. NIST reserves the right to charge for these data in the future.

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Abstract

Tables and graphs of the photon mass attenuation coefficient μ/ρ and the mass energy-absorption coefficient μ_en/ρ are presented for all of the elements Z = 1 to 92, and for 48 compounds and mixtures of radiological interest. The tables cover energies of the photon (x-ray, gamma ray, bremsstrahlung) from 1 keV to 20 MeV. The μ/ρ values are taken from the current photon interaction database at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the μ_en/ρ values are based on the new calculations by Seltzer described in Radiation Research 136, 147 (1993). These tables of μ/ρ and μ_en/ρ replace and extend the tables given by Hubbell in the International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes 33, 1269 (1982).

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. X-Ray Mass Attenuation Coefficients
   Table 1. Material constants for elemental media.
   Table 2. Material constants and composition for compounds and mixtures.
   Values of the mass attenuation coefficient and the mass energy-absorption coefficient as a function of photon energy, for:
   Table 3. [Data] elemental media.
   Table 4. [Data] compounds and mixtures.
3. The Mass Energy-Absorption Coefficient
4. Summary
5. References

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