Moisture gradient and mass attenuation coefficient measurement of mulberry and babul using gamma source
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Date
2017
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Study of gamma ray interaction has made profound impact in many fields including the wood
research. Gamma ray transmission methods rely on their penetrating power and are employed to
visualize the inner structure and composition of macroscopic objects without physically
damaging the objects. Wood being a natural material has multitude of exclusive features which
makes it a demanding material for construction, furniture, tools, vehicles and decorative items.
Moisture is a major decisive parameter for deciding the quality and durability of wood and
therefore we need to know it’s optimum level to guarantee the quality of wood. For the present
work the moisture gradient, mass attenuation coefficient and density of mulberry and babul
wood samples have been measured by gamma ray spectroscopy using 137Cs as a source having
energy of 662 keV. The mass attenuation coefficient of samples was calculated and was found
to increase with decrease in moisture content. The calculated moisture gradient curves follow
the exponential decay law. Results obtained for densities measured by gamma ray mass
attenuation method, oven dry test and conventional weighting method were in good agreement.
Overall, our results show that the proposed measurement approach is effective for mass
attenuation coefficient and moisture gradient measurements.
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