Why can lead containing plates shield X-ray radiation?

In daily life, there are many different radiation phenomena, such as X-rays γ X-rays, neutron rays, and other industrial X-ray testing equipment such as X-RAY testing equipment and X-RAY point machines currently used in the market often use X-ray operations. For novice technicians, they may find that these X-ray equipment are designed with lead containing materials to shield X-rays.

Why can lead prevent radiation?

From the atomic number analysis of lead, the atomic number of lead is 82, which can effectively isolate X-rays and play a attenuation role. However, lead has poor structure, high price, and is not resistant to high temperatures and also has chemical toxicity. Therefore, the outer box of X-ray detection equipment mostly uses lead-containing plates, which are composed of multiple materials. For example, the casing of Zhuoma Optoelectronics uses a three-layer material of steel plate, lead plate, and steel plate, which can effectively shield radiation. However, this method can effectively prevent the instability of lead blocks and reduce material costs.

Perhaps one may ask: Why is the higher the atomic number of a substance, the better its ability to block radiation?

Radiation (X-rays or γ Radiation passing through matter can cause various interactions, such as photoelectric effect, Compton effect, and electron pair effect. These effects can cause X-rays or γ Rays are absorbed or scattered, thus playing a role in blocking and shielding, and the larger the atomic coefficient, the greater the amount of energy absorbed, resulting in very little or even negligible release.