Energy Loss and Range Calculations for Alpha Particles in B-100 Bone and C-552 Air-Equivalent Plastic Materials

Abstract

The type of radiation that harms humans and living organisms is the ionizing type. In this type of radiation, radiation passing through the cell transfers energy to biological tissues and causes harmful biological effects along with chemical changes. Therefore, radiation exposure doses should be kept as low as possible and appropriate shielding materials should be used between radiation and living tissue. In this study, stopping power and range calculations of B-100 bone and C-552 air-equivalent plastic materials, which are International Commission on Radiation Units & Measurement (ICRU) materials, were performed for alpha particles in the energy range of 0.1 MeV - 10 MeV. The effective charge approach within the scope of Bethe-Bloch theory and Bohr stripping criterion was used in collision stopping power calculations. The Continuous Slowing-Down Approximation (CSDA) method and the 3/8 Simpson approximation were chosen for range calculations. The error rates were found to be less than 10% when the results were compared with the available literature data.