Radiation damage and recovery properties of common plastics PEN (Polyethylene Naphthalate) and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) using a Cs-137 gamma ray source up to 1.4 Mrad and 14 Mrad

Wetzel J., Tiras E., Bilki B., Onel Y., Winn D.

JOURNAL OF INSTRUMENTATION, cilt.11, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 11
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1088/1748-0221/11/08/p08023
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF INSTRUMENTATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Radiation damage to detector materials (solid state), Radiation-hard detectors, Scintillators, scintillation and light emission processes (solid, gas and liquid scintillators)
  • Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and polyethylene teraphthalate (PET) are cheap and common polyester plastics used throughout the world in the manufacturing of bottled drinks, containers for foodstuffs, and fibers used in clothing. These plastics are also known organic scintillators with very good scintillation properties. As particle physics experiments increase in energy and particle flux density, so does radiation exposure to detector materials. It is therefore important that scintillators be tested for radiation tolerance at these generally unheard of doses. We tested samples of PEN and PET using laser stimulated emission on separate tiles exposed to 1 Mrad and 10 Mrad gamma rays with a Cs-137 source. PEN exposed to 1.4 Mrad and 14 Mrad emit 71.4% and 46.7% of the light of an undamaged tile, respectively, and maximally recover to 85.9% and 79.5% after 5 and 9 days, respectively. PET exposed to 1.4 Mrad and 14 Mrad emit 35.0% and 12.2% light, respectively, and maximally recover to 93.5% and 80.0% after 22 and 60 days, respectively.