Usability of potassium compounds as efficiency calibrators for gamma spectrometer

K-40 is widely used for efficiency calibration of gamma spectrometer because provision of it is easy, it is cheap, it is found in each environmental sample and it gives a clear peak at 1460,8 keV. In this study, 18 different chemical compounds', that have different potassium portions, types of elements, densities and particle sizes, activity concentrations are measured and effect of these parameters on the activity of compounds is investigated. As a result, it is seen that the compounds which have low density, low molecular weight and high potassium portion have high potassium activity concentration and the compounds that have these properties are much suitable for using as calibration sources.