Agricultural Research Journal
Year : 2021, Volume : 58, Issue : 1
First page : ( 114) Last page : ( 119)
Print ISSN : 2395-1435. Online ISSN : 2395-146X.
Article DOI : 10.5958/2395-146X.2021.00016.8

Determination of moisture content and density of silver oak (Grevillea robusta) and Mango (Mangifera indica) wood using gamma radiation

Kaur Arshdeep, Kumar Rajeev*

Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab

*Corresponding author: rajeevsharma@pau.edu

Online published on 12 April, 2021.

Abstract

Due to the availability and particular features, wood is one of the first materials used by mankind with a wide variety of applications. Changes in moisture content lead to changes of virtually all physical and mechanical properties (e.g. shrinkage or swelling, strength and stiffness properties) of wood. The present study deals with the determination of mass attenuation coefficient of silver oak (Grevillea robusta) and mango (Mangifera indica) wood samples as it varies across material thickness and at varying moisture levels using gamma ray transmission method. NaI(Tl) scintillation detector and a radioactive source ¹³⁷Cs of energy 0.662 MeV and having strength of 1.0 microcurie were used. Wood samples were placed in an oven for fixed durations to vary moisture levels. The attenuation varies with decreasing moisture content i.e., the mass attenuation coefficient was minimum for completely wet state and maximum for oven dry state of the samples. Wood density is also a vital parameter giving knowledge about anatomical and physical properties of wood. Wood densities were also measured for these wood samples by using conventional, oven dry and nuclear method. Owing to the fact that the shielding capacity of wood samples can also be determined easily, wood of sliver oak and mango can be used as shielding material from radiation.

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Keywords

Mass attenuation coefficient, Moisture content, Relative transmission intensity, Scintillation detector.

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