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ISO 4037 2019: ESTABLISHMENT OF X-RAY NARROW-SPECTRUM SERIES

USED IN THE NATIONAL SECONDARY STANDARD DOSIMETRY LABORATORY
OF MOROCCO

Conference Paper · January 2022

DOI: 10.21175/RadProc.2022.06

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 RAD Conference Proceedings, vol. 6, pp. 31–37, 2022
ISSN 2466-4626 (online) | doi: 10.21175/RadProc.2022.06
www.rad-proceedings.org

ISO 4037 2019: ESTABLISHMENT OF X-RAY NARROW-SPECTRUM SERIES

USED IN THE NATIONAL SECONDARY STANDARD DOSIMETRY LABORATORY OF MOROCCO

Omaima Essaad Belhaj1*, Hamid Boukhal1, El Mahjoub Chakir2, Khaoula Laazouzi1,

Maryam Hadouachi1, Younes Sadeq2,3, Siham Belhaj4, Meryem Bellahsaouia2, Said Soudjay5
1RSN,Faculty of Sciences, University Abdelmalek Essaadi, Tetouan, Morocco
2LPMS,Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco
3SSDL, National Center of Radiation Protection (CNRP), Ministry of Health, Sale, Morocco
4ENA, Marrakech, Morocco
5Faculty of Sciences, University of Comoros, Moroni, Comoros

Abstract. The radiation qualities of the narrow-spectrum X-ray series in the range from 30 to 300 kV designed for
calibration of radiation protection and dosimeter irradiation instruments have been established, characterized and
validated experimentally in accordance with the recommendations of ISO4037-1:2019 in the automated X-ray
calibration facility of the Service of Calibration and Metrology of Ionizing Radiation of a national Secondary Standard
Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) in Morocco. The variety of the first half-value layer (1st HVL) and the second HVL (2nd
HVL) between the experimental results and the values given in ISO 4037-1:2019 were all within 10%; similarly, the
homogeneity coefficients h were between 0.88 and 1.0 according to ISO 4037:2019. In addition, the Monte Carlo code
Gamos/Geant4 was used to simulate the spectra of these radiation qualities, which showed good agreement with the
spectra given in ISO 4037-1 and with the results found by the SpekPy and SpekCalc software. For the conversion
coefficients the highest difference between values determined through experiment and those established by ISO 4037-3
were 5.5 %. The study and characterization of the reference radiations of the narrow spectrum series in the national
secondary standard dosimetry laboratory of Morocco revealed a good conformity to the recommendations of the
ISO 4037:2019.
Keywords: half-value layer, narrow-spectrum series, Monte Carlo, SSDL, radiation protection

Measuring such a spectrum for these X-ray beams

can be both time consuming and difficult, especially
1. INTRODUCTION when large corrections must be applied to the measured
To ensure that the tests and calibration of radiation pulse height distributions of the observed spectra [5].
protection instruments, namely dosimeters and dose For this reason, Monte Carlo method was used to
rate meters and the determination of their response, are simulate the energy spectrum of this series utilizing the
carried out in a reliable and traceable manner, it is Gamos/Geant4 while calculating the average energy
necessary to use reference radiation fields and, for this and comparing the resolution with the standard
purpose and the standardization between different technical specifications.
organizations, the international standard revised and
deleted the technical specification series ISO 4037 1996,
and made available ISO4037-1:2019 [1], ISO4037- 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2:2019 [2], ISO4037-3:2019 [3] and ISO4037-
4:2019 [4]. 2.1. Equipment
It is very important to establish the radiation
reference series based on the recommendations of 2.1.1. The X-ray beam irradiator
ISO4037-1:2019 at the National Center for Radiation
Protection in Morocco which is one of the members of The X-ray calibration system supplied is able to
the IAEA/WHO SSDL network. produce radiation beam qualities for calibration of
dosimetry equipment per ISO-4037 requirements.
In this paper, the narrow spectrum series of X-rays
going from 30 kVp to 300 kVp was established The measurements were carried out with a machine
according to the above standards, inherent filtration of model X80-320 of X-ray irradiator represented by
the tube, supplementary filtration, first half-value layer HOPEWELL DESIGNS, INC and that represents a
(1st HVL), second half-value layer (2nd HVL) and complete system for the irradiation of the badges of
homogeneity coefficient were measured experimentally. dosimetry of the personnel and the instruments of
detection of the radiations with X-rays. It possesses
These X-ray beams are named by N-***, where *** ceramic tube and an anode target in tungsten with an
represents the high voltage, in kilovolts, applied to the angle of 20°, a focal field of 5.5 mm and an inherent
X-ray generator. filtration of 3 mm of beryllium. The high voltage that

* omaimaessaad.belhaj@gmail.com
 O.E. Belhaj et al., ISO 4037 2019: Characteristics of narrow spectrum beams..., RAD Conf. Proc., vol. 6, 2022, 31–37

may be applied to this X-ray tube varies from 15 to During measurement, the Kerma values in air and
320 kVp, a current of 0.5 mA to 13 mA and a minimum the charge collected from the ionization chamber
power of 1500 W to 4200 W. The charge generated by PS (50) are multiplied by a correction factor for
the X-ray photons was measured using a PS (50) temperature and pressure calculated for the measured
ionization chamber and read from an associated PTW values of temperature and pressure.
electrometer Unidos Webline T10023.
The principal subsystems of the X-ray system are: 2.1.4. Metal - Attenuator-
1) the shielded enclosure, 2) filter wheel, 3) the beam
The metal absorbers copper and Aluminum used in
shutter and collimator, 4) monitor chamber, 5) added
this work have a purity higher than 99.98 %.
filtration, 6) HVL support, 7) ionization chamber.
2.2. Measurement procedure

2.2.1. Beam profile

In order for the beam shaping to be effective, it is
necessary before establishing any radiation quality to
measure the homogeneity of the beam to make sure that
the ionization chamber is fully irradiated.
At a distance of 50 cm from the tube, the
measurement of the horizontal and vertical profile of
the beam was carried out.
Figure 1. Set-up of the X-ray beam irradiator used in the SSDL
Model X80-320 kV for HVL’s determination. 2.2.2. Inherent filtration
The X-ray beam is filtered at the exit of the tube by
2.1.2. Transmission monitor chamber an inherent filtration caused by the insulating glass
Large size plane-parallel transmission monitor envelope, and the sheath window, and an additional
chamber type 34014 for use as dose monitors combined filtration, which have for objective to reduce the
with calibration facilities designed by PTW FREIBURG intensity of the X-ray, and to increase the energy (the
is placed beyond the X-ray collimators for an accurate low energies will be absorbed in priority with the
reading of dose area product. filtration, which involves an augmentation of the
average energy of the beam). So, the inherent filtration
The sensitive volumes are designed as twin
is characteristic of an X-ray tube and it cannot be
chambers with 2.5 mm measuring depth each and
changed.
diameter of 148 mm.
Without any additional filtration and at 60 kV and
A monitor chamber shall be used in order to permit
the tube current of 10 mA, the inherent filtration was
application of corrections for fluctuations in the air
established using the ionization chamber Ps (50) placed
kerma rate [1].
at 1m from the tube center. Aluminum filters with
different thicknesses were added/ superimposed in the
2.1.3. Ionization chamber beam in order to calculate the HVL taking the 1st value
The spherical ionization chamber PS (50) TN32007 in absence of filter as reference.
SN 000007 with a nominal volume of 50 cm3 is used as The determination method consists of 10 intensity
the secondary standard for radiation protection. The readings of 60 seconds each, performed with a
spherical structure of the ionization chamber provides a superposition of additional aluminum filters placed in
nearly uniform response to radiation from all such a manner as to obtain a reduction of about 50% of
directions. The ionization chamber must be stable over the initial intensity. The inherent filtration was obtained
time, centered and aligned with the beam axis. by an extrapolation curve generated from the data in
table 9 of the ISO4037-1 standard [1].
Of the fact that the total filtration = inherent
filtration + additional filtration and after determining
the inherent filtration, the additional filtration was
deduced.
The determination method used for the
determination of inherent filtration is in conformity
with ISO 4037 [1] and ICRU report 10b [6].

2.2.3. Half-value layer measurement

The 1st half-attenuation layer is described in ISO
4037 as the thickness of the specific material that
attenuates the radiation beam to a measurement of one
half of its initial value, while the 2nd half-attenuation
layer is described as the thickness of the same material
Figure 2. Ionization chamber alignment for the measurement of the 1st half-attenuation layer
that attenuates the beam to a measurement of one
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 O.E. Belhaj et al., ISO 4037 2019: Characteristics of narrow spectrum beams..., RAD Conf. Proc., vol. 6, 2022, 31–37

quarter of its initial value minus the 1st half attenuation next interaction, at which point all the particles involved
layer. For homogeneity it is the ratio of 1st HVL and 2nd with their data are stored in phase space file and moved
HVL. In the presence of inherent filtration, and using again. This procedure is continued until the simulated
different thicknesses of copper or Al filters, HVL’s particle's energy falls below a preset cut-off energy, or it
measurements of different radiation qualities N-30, exits the region of interest or the system entirely. By
N-40, N-60, N-80, N-100, N-120, N-150, N-200, observing the histograms at each phase space file, one
N-250, N-300 were performed according to can understand how the particles are transported along
ISO4037:2019. their trajectories.
The HVL measurement procedure is performed In our case the creation of the geometry file (.geom),
either by determining the attenuation curves or by using and the input data file (.in) was based on the
interpolation for the determination of 1s tHVL and 2nd documentation of the tutorial and the solution code in
HVL while taking the 1st measurement in the absence of the GAMOS installation, in the directory
a filter as reference values which correspond to 100%. GAMOS.6.2.0/tutorials/XRayTutorial with using
The results found experimentally for the HVL’s were GmEMPhysics list and bremsstrahlung splitting. We
compared with the results of the SpekCalc [7-9] and used a random seed to speed up this simulation.
SpekPy version 2.0.7 [10-18] software. From the spectral distribution data, the average
energy can be derived from the X-ray qualities, which is
2.2.4. X-ray spectra defined by the following relation:
𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
∫ 𝜙(𝐸)𝐸𝑑𝐸
𝐸̅= 0 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 (1)
∫0 𝜙(𝐸)𝑑𝐸

In addition to the determination of the spectral

characteristics by the Monte Carlo method using the
Gamos/Geant4 code, the SpekCalc and SpekPy software
mentioned above were used for the validation.

2.2.5. Conversion coefficients

From a practical point of view, the issue is to connect
the operational quantities to physical reference
quantities that can be measured with appropriate by
means of appropriate equipment whether of a
radiometric nature or in reference to the action of
radiation on matter, therefore of a dosimetric nature
[29] .The conversion coefficient Hp (10)/Kair which
allows to determine the dose equivalent Hp(10) from
the measured values of air kerma with the ionization
Figure 3. Simplified geometry of simulated chamber PS(50) described above and the measured
X-ray generator using GAMOS/GEANT4 values of Hp(10) with the parallel plate ionization
chamber (Figure 4) which is a secondary standard
The energy spectrum of the radiation quality is one ionization detector type 34035 [30] created at PTB
of the important elements to characterize the radiation Germany allowing the direct measurement of personal
quality. Since the measurement procedure is delicate, dose equivalent on a slab phantom.
time consuming and requires a lot of correction, Monte The Hp (10) chamber's primary calibrated in the
Carlo simulation is employed. Monte Carlo methods are PTB laboratory characteristics are its 10 cm3
widely used, especially to solve radiation transport measurement volume, 31x300x300 mm3 measuring
problems. Many general-purpose Monte Carlo (MC) component dimensions, and 120x300x300 mm3 slab
codes that can facilitate the experiment and minimize phantom dimensions.
the time to process the phenomena [19,20] have been
developed, such as EGSnrc [21], EGS4/EGSnrc [22,23],
ETRAN [24], MCNP [25], PENELOPE [26], Fluka [27]
and Gamos [19, 28].
To make a simulation with Gamos/Geant4 the
minimum to define is the geometry, the primary
generator (initial particles), the physics list, and the
format of the output which is mainly obtained by the
user actions, the sensitive detectors, or the scorer.
In this paper, the Gamos/Geant4 version 6.2.0
Monte Carlo code was utilized to simulate the spectra of
the radiation qualities included in the ISO 4037-1 series
of narrow spectra using write and summation of phase
space files (RTGeneratorPhaseSpace/SumPS). An
accelerated electron strikes the anode target at an angle
of 22° to start the simulation. The primary particle (the Figure 4. Parallel plat ionization chamber
initial) is moved a distance S (mean free path) until the calibrated in the PTB laboratory
33
 O.E. Belhaj et al., ISO 4037 2019: Characteristics of narrow spectrum beams..., RAD Conf. Proc., vol. 6, 2022, 31–37

The kerma-to-personal dose equivalent Hp(10) an extrapolation curve generated from the data
conversion coefficient is defined as the ratio of the provided by Table 9 of ISO 4037-1. According to
quantities Hp(10) and the air kerma Kair: ISO 4037-1, additional filtration is equal to the total
filtration (4 mm Al) less the inherent filtration of the
hpK(10;N, α)slab=Hp(10)/ Kair (2) tube.
where:
• N: narrow spectrum series 3.3. Half-value layer measurement
• α: angle of incidence (°) Tables 2 and 3 represent the results found
experimentally (SSDL) and the results found by
• Hp(10):phantom related operational quantities
SpekCalc and SpekPy. Concerning the beam qualities
• Kair: the air kerma determined according to N-200, N-250, N-350, their additional filtration
ISO 4037. consists of lead filters, this material is not found in the
library of materials of SpekCalc.
The conversion coefficients depend on the energy,
the directional distribution of the incident radiation and
Table 2. Measurements results of 1st HVL’s
also the phantom used in the calibration [31].
Radiation Tube
quality voltage 1st HVL (mm)
(mm Al/Cu) (kV)
3.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Spek Spek
ISO SSDL
Calc Py
3.1. Beam profile N-30 (mm Al) 30 1.16 1.13 1.17 1.16
N-40 (mm Cu) 40 0.085 0.082 0.086 0.08
120 N-60 (mm Cu) 60 0.234 0.24 0.24 0.23
N-80 (mm Cu) 80 0.578 0.6 0.6 0.57
100 N-100 (mm Cu) 100 1.09 1.153 1.13 1.09
80 Vertical N-120 (mm Cu) 120 1.67 1.76 1.73 1.68
Response

60 Horizental N-150 (mm Cu) 150 2.3 2.4 2.39 2.3

N-200 (mm Cu) 200 3.92 4.14 - 3.94
40 N-250 (mm Cu) 250 5.1 5.18 - 5.13
20 N-300 (mm Cu) 300 5.96 6.253 - 6.04
0
-20 -10 -20 0 10 20 Table 3. Measurements results of 2nd HVL’s.
Distance(cm) Radiation
quality 2nd HVL (mm)
Figure 5. Measurement results (mm Al/Cu)
of uniformity of radiation field ISO SSDL SpekCalc SpekPy
N-30 (mm Al) 1.28 1.24 1.29 1.28
Figure 5 shows the vertical and horizontal profile of N-40 (mm Cu) 0.093 0.092 0.093 0.091
the R-X beam, the inclination of the vertical plate is due N-60 (mm Cu) 0.263 0.26 0.266 0.26
to the inclination of the anode. A homogeneous region N-80 (mm Cu) 0.622 0.62 0.635 0.62
with a diameter of 20 cm was obtained at a distance of N-100 (mm Cu) 1.15 1.205 1.19 1.15
50 cm from the tube.
N-120 (mm Cu) 1.73 1.85 1.8 1.75
N-150 (mm Cu) 2.41 2.582 2.5 2.43
3.2. Inherent filtration
N-200(mm Cu) 3.99 4.25 - 4
8 N-250 (mm Cu) 5.14 5.1 - 5.18
inherent filtration

6 N-300 (mm Cu) 6 6.37 - 6.07

4
2 Table 4. Measurements results of homogeneous coefficients
0 Tube
Radiation
0 1 2 3 4 voltage homogeneous (%)
quality
(kV)
(1st HVL) SSDL SpekCalc SpekPy
Figure 6. Inherent filtration according N-30 30 91 91 91
to the intensity from ISO standard N-40 40 89 91.8 91
N-60 60 92.3 89.2 89
Table 1. Results of the inherent filtration N-80 80 96.8 92.9 93
1st HVL (mm of Aluminum) 60 kV 0.38 N-100 100 95.7 95 94
Inherent Tube Filtration (mm of Aluminum) 0.29 N-120 120 95.1 96.4 96
Additional Inherent Filtration (mm of Aluminum) 3.70 N-150 150 94.8 95.4 95
N-200 200 97.4 - 98.3
Table 1 show the results for inherent filtration. The N-250 250 89.2 - 99
inherent filtration found is 0.29 mm Al for a half-value N-300 300 98.1 - 99
layer (HVL) of 0.38 mm Al. This value was obtained by
34
 O.E. Belhaj et al., ISO 4037 2019: Characteristics of narrow spectrum beams..., RAD Conf. Proc., vol. 6, 2022, 31–37

Table 5. Deviation result of 1st HVL’s 3.E+05 N-30

[PHOTONS KeV-1 CM-2]

N-40
Radiation
ΔHVL1 (%) N-60
quality 2.E+05 N-80
SSDL SpekCalc SpekPy
N-100
N-30 2.65 0.86 0.000 1.E+05 N-120
N-40 3.66 0.59 2.353 N-150
N-60 2.50 1.28 0.855 N-200
N-80 3.67 2.08 0.554 1.E+00 ENERGY (KeV) N-250
N-100 5.46 3.67 0.284 0 100 200 300 N-300
N-120 5.11 3.59 0.784
N-150 4.17 3.91 0.870
Figure 9. X-ray spectra simulated by SpekPy
N-200 5.31 - 0.510
N-250 1.54 - 0.588
N-300 4.69 - 1.342 Table 7. Comparison between simulated mean energies

code
Table 6. Deviation result of 2nd HVL’s Mean Energy (keV)
beams
Radiation ΔHVL2 (%) Gamos/Ge Spek
quality ISO SpekPy
ant4 Calc
SSDL SpekCalc SpekPy N-60 47.9 47.7 48 47.61
N-30 3.13 0.01 0.31 N-80 65.2 64.6 65.6 64.93
N-40 1.08 0.00 1.83 N-100 83.3 82.57 84 82.98
N-60 1.14 0.01 1.33 N-120 100.4 100.09 101 100.03
N-80 0.32 0.02 0.66 N-150 118.2 117.4 119 117.42
N-100 4.78 0.04 0.13 N-200 164.8 162.9 - 163.66
N-120 6.94 0.04 0.95
N-250 207.3 207.1 - 207.49
N-150 7.17 - 0.91
N-300 248.4 248 - 249.17
N-200 6.52 - 0.25
N-250 0.78 - 0.78
Table 8. Deviation of mean energies
N-300 6.17 - 1.17
code beams deviation (%)
The results of the homogeneity coefficient h are in
the range of 0.88 and 1 for all beam qualities, which is ΔEmean a ΔE mean b ΔE mean c
consistent with ISO 4037-1 for both experimental and N-60 0.41 0.62 0.17
modeled results (see Table 4). N-80 0.92 1.54 0.52
Tables 5 and 6 show the deviations N-100 0.88 1.73 0.49
ΔHVL1(%)=|(100⨯[HVL1()–HVL1(ISO)]/HVL1
N-120 0.30 0.90 0.05
(ISO)|) and ΔHVL2(%) = |(100⨯[HVL2() –
HVL2(ISO)]/HVL2(ISO)|) from the ISO 4037 standard. N-150 0.68 1.36 0.01
The results found are all < 10% which is in N-200 1.16 - 0.46
agreement with the requirements of the reference N-250 0.09 - 0.19
X-ray field regarding the deviation of the average filter N-300 0.16 - 0.47
thickness from the nominal value.
ΔEmeana= |100⨯[Emean(Gamos)− Emean (ISO) ] / Emean(ISO)|.
3.4. X-ray Spectra ΔEmeanb=|100⨯[Emean(SpekCalc) − Emean (Gamos )/
Emean(Gamos/Geant4)|.
8E-09 N-60
ΔEmeanc=|100⨯[Emean(SpekPy) − Emean(Gamos)] /
N-80
Emean(Gamos)|.
COUNTS

6E-09 N-100
4E-09 N-120 From Table 8 of deviation, a good agreement
N-150 between simulated values of Emean is noticed (maximum
2E-09 N-200 difference <1.16% when compared to ISO 4037-1 data,
N-250
0 <1.73% when compared to SpekCalc data, and 0.52%
N-300
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 when compared to SpekPy).
ENERGY(MeV)
3.5. Conversion coefficients
Figure 7. X-ray spectra simulated by Gamos/Geant4
3.E+05 Table 9. Conversion coefficients from
[PHOTONS KeV-1 cm-2]

N-30 air kerma to dose equivalent at 10 mm depth

2.E+05 N-40
hpK(10;N,α ) in Sv/Gy
N-60 N-60 N-80 N-100
1.E+05 Angle of
Experi Experi Exper
N-80 incidence ISO ISO ISO
ment ment iment
0.E+00 N-100 0° 1.64 1.66 1.89 1.89 1.88 1.88
0 50 100 150 15° 1.64 1.64 1.88 1.87 1.87 1.87
N-120
30° 1.59 1.6 1.8 1.83 1.86 1.82
ENERGY (KeV) N-150 45° 1.42 1.49 1.76 1.72 1.79 1.73
60° 1.3 1.29 1.52 1.51 1.48 1.53
Figure 8. X-ray spectra simulated by SpekCalc 75° 0.8 0.86 1 1.07 1.02 1.12

35
 O.E. Belhaj et al., ISO 4037 2019: Characteristics of narrow spectrum beams..., RAD Conf. Proc., vol. 6, 2022, 31–37

Table 9. Continued interests or personal relationships that could have

Angle of N-150 N-250 appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
incidence Experiment ISO Experiment ISO
0° 1.71 1.72 1.49 1.48 Acknowledgments: This research was supported
15° 1.71 1.71 1.48 1.47 through computational resources of HPC-MARWAN
30° 1.67 1.68 1.47 1.46 (www.marwan.ma/hpc) provided by the National
45° 1.56 1.61 1.44 - Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST),
60° 1.38 1.46 1.36 1.33
Rabat, Morocco.
75° 1 1.1 1 1.08

Table 10. Comparison between experimental

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