Effective atomic number of composite materials for Compton effect in the gamma ray region 280–1115 keV

In this paper, we report the effective atomic number, Zeff, of composite materials for Compton effect in the gamma ray region 280–1115 keV based on the theoretically obtained Klein–Nishina scattering cross sections in the angular range 50–100° as well as experimentally measured differential incoherent (Compton) scattering cross sections of some composite materials at three scattering angles of 60°, 80°, and 100°. The Zeff values so obtained were found to be both angle and energy independent in the region of interest so that it could be concluded that it is possible to represent such composite materials by a mean atomic number in this region as suggested in earlier reports recently.