DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENUATED ENERGY SPECTRUMS AT X-RAY ENERGIES OF 60 KEV AND 150 KEV USING CONCRETE MANUFACTURED WITH ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE SLAG AGGREGATES

This paper provides a simplified method to deduce the attenuated energy spectrum of X-ray radiation when it traverses through concrete made with 100 % electric arc furnace slag aggregates. Electric arc furnace slag is a by-product of the steel making process and in this study, it was utilized as an aggregate in the concrete. The attenuation of the radiation through the concrete is attributed to possible absorption and scattering of X-ray photons. Typically, X-ray procedures are conducted within the energy settings of the X-ray machines in the range of 60 keV to 150 keV. As such, the lowest and the highest energy settings were considered in evaluating the degree of attenuation attained at these values. The concrete shielding partitions of thicknesses of 15 cm, 17 cm, 19 cm and 22 cm were constructed and exposed to X-ray energies of 60 keV and 150 keV respectively. The calculated X-ray spectrum through the concrete partitions describing the energies of the photons was compared with the spectrum incident on the concrete partition. The overall reduction of the energies of the photons is attributed to the interaction processes between the X-ray photons and the atoms as they traverse through the concrete partition.