Water equivalence study of some phantoms based on effective photon energy, effective atomic numbers and electron densities for clinical MV X-ray and Co-60 γ-ray beams

A previously proposed procedure has been applied to some water equivalent phantoms namely PMMA, Polystyrene, Solid Water (WT1), RW3 and ABS for the first time to compute effective photon energy (Eeff), effective atomic numbers (Zeff) and electron densities (neeff) for different MV X-ray beams and Co-60 gamma beam which are heterogeneous in energy. For the purpose of the present investigation, effective atomic cross-sections of the given materials have been determined first to obtain effective photon energies which were further used for calculation of Zeff and neeff. Similar procedure was adopted for Co-60 γ-rays to check the validity of the present method. Results were found to be quite satisfactory. When it comes to the water equivalence, the Eeff results showed that the RW3 and ABS phantoms are more effective for 6 MV beam whereas RW3 and Polystyrene are more effective for 15 MV and Co-60 beams, respectively. The ABS and WT1 phantoms have better water equivalences than the others according to the Zeff and neeff results, respectively.