Determination of mass attenuation coefficients and effective atomic numbers for compounds of the 3d transition elements

•The mass attenuation coefficient depends on photon energy and chemical content.•The effective atomic number depends on photon energy and chemical content.•The mass attenuation coefficient decreases with increasing photon energy.•The experimental and theoretical results are consistent with each other.

In this study, we aimed to determine mass attenuation coefficient (μm)(μm) and effective atomic number (Zeff)(Zeff) for some compounds of the 3d transition elements such as CoO, CoF2, CoF3, Cr2O3, CrF2, CrF3, FeO, Fe2O3, MnO2, TiO2, V2O3, VF3, V2O5, VF4 and ZnO at 19.63 and 22.10 keV photon energies by using an HPGe detector with a resolution of 182 eV at 5.9 keV. The experimental results of μmμm are compared with the theoretical results. Also, effective atomic numbers of compounds of the 3d transition elements have been determined by using experimental and theoretical mass attenuation coefficients. The agreement of measured values of effective atomic numbers with theoretical calculations is quite satisfactory.