Polysiloxane Scintillators for Efficient Neutron and Gamma-Ray Pulse Shape Discrimination

Lim, Allison; Arrue, Jonathan; Rose, Paul B.; Sellinger, Alan; Erickson, Anna S.

doi:10.1021/acsapm.0c00641

Title: Polysiloxane Scintillators for Efficient Neutron and Gamma-Ray Pulse Shape Discrimination

Journal Article · Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · ACS Applied Polymer Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c00641· OSTI ID:1644046

^[1]; Arrue, Jonathan ^[2];

^[2];

^[1]; Erickson, Anna S. ^[2]

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Plastic scintillators based on thermoplastics, such as polystyrene and poly(vinyl toluene) (PVT), are capable of neutron and γ radiation detection via pulse shape discrimination (PSD) when overdoped with select fluorescent molecules. This class of plastic scintillator has been extensively studied but is limited to applications suitable for thermoplastics. For applications requiring flexibility, scintillators composed of elastomers, such as polysiloxanes, offer an alternative to PVT scintillators. Polysiloxane scintillators are inherently flexible and have a short processing time on the order of 3 h in air and equivalent or better detection capability at reduced doping concentration (<5 wt %). This work presents polysiloxane-based scintillators, containing only 1–5 wt % of 2,5 diphenyl-oxazole (PPO) or 9,9-dimethyl-2-phenyl-9H-fluorene (PhF) as primary dopants and 9,9-dimethyl-2,7-distyryl-9H-fluorene (SFS) as a wavelength shifter. A 5 wt % PPO polysiloxane sample had improved neutron and gamma ray PSD and comparable light yield than EJ-299-33 tested under the same conditions, i.e., figure of merit (FoM) of 1.33 ± 0.03 at 450 keV_ee and light yield of 94% relative to EJ-299-33. The 5 wt % PhF-polysiloxane sample had a higher light yield, 144% of EJ-299-33 but lower FoM under the same conditions (FoM of 1.09 ± 0.03). Furthermore, this work highlights the potential of polysiloxanes as a matrix for PSD capable plastic scintillators.

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Research Organization:: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003921; DGE-1646713

OSTI ID:: 1644046

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Polymer Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 8; ISSN 2637-6105

Publisher:: ACS PublicationsCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Plastic scintillator
polysiloxane
pulse shape
discrimination
neutron detection
radiation detection
impurities
hydrocarbons
aromatic compounds
plastics
silicones

Title: Polysiloxane Scintillators for Efficient Neutron and Gamma-Ray Pulse Shape Discrimination

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