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3D printable polyvinyltoluene-based plastic scintillators with pulse shape discrimination

Journal Article · · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
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  1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

A feasibility of preparing bulk photopolymerized plastics scintillators that contain vinyltoluene with multifunctional monomers, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate is shown. This formulation offers a simple and fast way to prepare polyvinyltoluene-based plastics with efficient fast neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD) within minutes. 30 wt% of 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) was added in the mixtures of vinyltoluene and pentaerythritol tetraacrylate with different secondary dyes to understand the effect of dyes on the scintillation. Prepared resins were photopolymerized under different conditions, and the scintillation performance was compared to a commercially available standard, EJ-276. Additional functionality for thermal neutron sensitivity was introduced by the incorporation of 6Li and 6B nuclei. With optimized conditions, prepared plastics showed light output up to 90% relative to the same size of EJ-276. Here, the best plastic scintillators had PSD figures of merit (FoMs) up to 2.77 compared to 3.25 of EJ-276. The 3D-printability of the tested formulations was demonstrated.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE NA Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
2005127
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--846754; 1070816
Journal Information:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Vol. 1055; ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (11)

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
3D printing
Neutron detection
Photopolymerization
Plastic scintillator
Polyvinyltoluene scintillator
Pulse shape discrimination