Radiation attenuation properties based on the quantification of soil components using the Rietveld Method

We propose the use of X-ray diffraction associated with Rietveld Method (RM-XRD) for soil components quantification aiming at evaluating photon attenuation parameters (total and partial attenuation coefficients (µ), effective atomic number (Z _eff ), effective electron density (N _el ) and cross-sections per atom (σ _a ) and per electron (σ _e )). The XCOM computer code was utilized to calculate these parameters. The X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) technique was used as reference for the quantification of soil components. Good agreement was found between XRF and RM-XRD for photons ranging from medium to high energies. Photons of low energy (<0.1 MeV) presented slight differences between these two methods.