Abstract: To scientifically and rationally evaluate the protective effect of low-lead/lead-free materials, the shielding performance of such materials needs to be accurately tested. Through literature research, combined with the current relevant standards, this paper introduces shielding performance testing of protective materials from three aspects of X-ray radiation quality, testing equipment and testing methods. According to the different test geometry, there are five detection methods as follows: under the condition of narrow beam, the detector is far away from the material to be tested, so it can not detect the secondary radiation generated by the material to be tested, so it is not suitable for the detection of low-lead/lead-free materials. Under the condition of broad beam, the solid angle of the radiation beam increases and the detector is close to the tested material, which is conducive to the detection of low-lead/lead-free materials, but there are certain requirements for the area of the tested material and the selection of the detector. The inverse broad beam condition is detected by narrow beam and flat ionization chamber, but there is a small field problem. The improved inverse broad beam condition uses IB-AT and IB-AP configurations to reduce the difference of energy spectrum, but the implementation is cumbersome. The improved broad beam can reduce the influence of the small field problem, but there is still the influence of the energy spectrum difference on the results. In practice, the appropriate test method can be selected according to conditions and specific protection needs.

Key words: low-lead/lead-free radiation protection materials, shielding performance, test geometry