ASTM International

Standard Terminology Relating to Radiation Measurements and Dosimetry
 N E170

Annotation

INTRODUCTION

This terminology generally covers terms that apply to radiation measurements and dosimetry associated with energy deposition and radiation effects, or damage, in materials caused by interactions by high-energy radiation fields. The common radiation fields considered are X-rays, gamma rays, electrons, alpha particles, neutrons, and mixtures of these fields. This treatment is not intended to be exhaustive but reflects special and common terms used in technology and applications of interest to Committee E10, as for example, in areas of radiation effects on components of nuclear power reactors, radiation hardness testing of electronics, and radiation processing of materials.

This terminology uses recommended definitions and concepts of quantities, with units, for radiation measurements as contained in the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) Report 85a on “Fundamental Quantities and Units for Ionizing Radiation,” October 2011.2 Those terms that are defined essentially according to the terminology of ICRU Report 85a will be followed by ICRU in parentheses. It should also be noted that the units for quantities used are the latest adopted according to the International System of Units (SI) which are contained in Appendix X1 as taken from a table in ICRU Report 85a.2 This terminology also uses recommended definitions of two JCGM documents,3 namely “International vocabulary of metrology” (VIM, 2012, unless indicated otherwise) and “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement” (GUM, 2008). Those terms that are defined essentially according to the terminology of these documents will be followed by either VIM or GUM in parentheses.

A term is boldfaced when it is defined in this standard. For some terms, text in italics is used just before the definition to limit its field of application, for example, see activity.