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Experiment name: X-ray beam quality by measuring HVL

Objective
The critical analysis of the methodology for evaluating the x-ray beam half-value
layer was based on technical standards for radiological protection and quality
control in medical and dental diagnoses.

Introduction
The filtration of the radiation beam produced by a x-ray tube reduces the patient
radiation exposure, since this procedure preferentially removes low energy photons
unnecessary for the formation of the diagnostic image of interest. The International
Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has established a minimum value
for the total filtration thickness to be adopted with diagnostic x-ray beams; such
value should not be lower than 2.5 mmAl (except for mammography equipment),
and equal to 1.5 mmAl for odontological x-ray up to 70 kV. X-ray equipment
manufacturers must ensure that the ICRP minimum filtration requirements are met.

Most frequently, the method employed to infer about the total filtration of an
equipment associates the total filtration with the quality of the x-ray beam, also
denominated penetrability or penetrating energy, numerically characterized by the
half-value layer (HVL).

Several authors present correlations between HVL for a determined potential and
the total filtration of the tube, also denominated quality diagrams. The HVL may be
more completely defined as the absorber material thickness necessary to reduce the
x-ray beam intensity to half its incident magnitude, under good geometry
conditions. This condition implies a configuration that minimizes the scattering
influence which tends to increase the HVL value.

In the present study, a critical analysis is performed on the methodology for

measurement of HVL in diagnostic x-ray beams.

Materials & Methods

In this experiment, 1mm thick aluminum sheets were used as attenuating material.
The beam energy was tested at 70 kVp, 90 kVp and 120 kVp with a range from 0-
7mm of aluminum thickness. First, the exposure was measured at 70 kVp with
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0mm of added filtration and with each subsequent exposure, 1mm of aluminum
was added until an exposure with 7mm was achieved.  This was repeated at 90
kVp and 120 kVp. The exposure was measured using the Cobia Smart X-ray Meter
in milligray and microgray and the results are included in the table below (Table
1).

Figure-01: The materials necessary and the setup

Figure-02: The experimental setup for half-value layer measurement. Abbreviation: FSD =
Focus-surface distance
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Table-01: Data Sheet for Half Value Layer

After calculating the mR/mAs, another table was constructed with the percentage
transmission. This can be seen in Table 2 below.
Table-02: Percentage Transmission Table
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A plot (Figure below) was

constructed using the percentage
transmission values versus the
thickness of aluminum (in mm)
used for the 3 tube voltages.

Figure-03: Percentage
Transmission per Thickness
Absorber for 70, 90, and 120
kVp .

Next, using the plot, the

HVL for each curve was calculated. This can be seen in figures 3, 4 & 5. Using the
percentage transmission that was calculated above, a straight-line was drawn from
50% transmission to the curve. This point represents the amount or thickness of
aluminum required to reduce the x-ray beam to half of it's original intensity. This
step was repeated for 90 & 120 kVp. 

Next, using the plot, the HVL for each curve was calculated. This can be seen in
figures 3, 4 & 5. Using the percentage transmission that was calculated above, a
straight-line was drawn from 50% transmission to the curve. This point represents
the amount or thickness of aluminum required to reduce the x-ray beam to half of
it's original intensity. This step was repeated for 90 & 120 kVp. 

Figure-04: HVL at 70 KVP

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Figure -05: HVL at 90 KVP

Figure-06: HVL at 120 KVP

Results
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Discussion
1. All X-ray units do not always produce the same quality of X rays for a given
voltage. This may be due to incorrect calibration, age of apparatus, waveform and
other causes..

2. Diagnostic X-ray beam quality is usually expressed by means of the kV or kVp

and the filtration or, alternatively, the half-value thickness (HVT) in millimetres of
aluminium .

3. However, HVT alone is not a good indicator of beam quality for this purpose: a
simple experiment will show that it is possible, with different kVp's and filtrations,
to produce X-ray beams with the same HVT but which give radiographs of quite
different quality

4.The quality of thex-raybeam is controlled by theamount of

voltage.Voltageprovidescontrast to the film.

5. When removing thickness of the protection level (i.e. direct x-ray beams) some
findings were observed as follows:

6. High drop of the free air kerma rates between 0 and 0.5 mm similar to cupper
layers. That means 0.5mm thickness of aluminum attenuates much of the incident
x-rays. As x-ray beam composed of soft and hard components, the soft part of the
beam is attenuated using 0.5 mm thickness of aluminum (soft x-ray is easily
stopped by small thickness but hard x-ray needs greater thicknesses).

7. In the region between 0.5 and 1mm thickness, some fluctuations in the curve
shapes can be observed due to low amounts of x-ray penetrated the aluminum
sheets.

8. Greater than 1mm thickness values become almost constant indicating less
attenuation of the beam took place. Few corrections were made by using additional
data points between 0 & 0.5 mm the help in obtaining the HVL values, which were
greater than reference values.
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Conclusion
The intensity of an x-ray beam is an important property in radiography and can be
reduced as it penetrates an object by absorption or scattering. Reduction in the
intensity of the beam can be affected by the atomic number of the absorbing
material or beam energy. In radiography, technologists use the half value layer
(HVL) to measure the quality or intensity of the beam. The HVL of an x-ray beam
is defined as the amount of absorbing material that is needed to reduce the beam to
half of its original potential. HVL is an indirect measure of photon energy or beam
hardness. HVL is an important quality control test as it is used to measure whether
or not there is sufficient filtration in the x-ray beam to remove low energy
radiation, which can be damaging. It also helps to determine the type and thickness
of shielding required in the facility.