Determining the integral effective absorption coefficient in density gradient monitoring

A method was devised for determining the integral effective absorption coefficient for x rays having an unknown spectrum by means of a thin absorption standard which produces a small increment in the surface density. The integral coefficient enables one to determine the density and density gradient in a given direction from the absorption of a narrow collimated beam in the absence of preliminary evidence on the primary spectrum or detection-system spectral sensitivity. The method was checked out in researching density-gradient variations arising during developing manufacturing techniques for making zirconium antipickup paint in order to evaluate the strength characteristics