Wire chamber aging and wire material

Conference · Sun Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6708234

Atac, M

Recent studies on wire chamber aging have shown surprising results indicating that anode wire material may have a strong influence on the useful life-time of a chamber or counter. The aging process discussed here is related to changes in the surface characteristics of the anode wires. Those changes may be due to an oxidation process involving molecules produced from the dissociation of organic quenching agents during the avalanche process. It is observed that after some running time the anode wire surface is coated with a nonconductive film, which drops the electric field around the anode wire, reducing the gain as the aging process continues. Aging was accelerated when the gold plated tungsten anode wire was replaced by Stablohm-800 resistive alloy (75% Ni + 20% Cr + Al + Cu) wire using the same gas in the same chamber. However, the gas mixture of Argon-ethane-isopropyl alcohol provides a very long lifetime for a drift chamber made of Stablohm-800 anode wire. The details of the findings are discussed.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6708234
• Report Number(s): CONF-861007-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.; (United States) Journal Volume: NS-34:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440104* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- High Energy Physics Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AGING
ALLOYS
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
AMPLIFICATION
ANODES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COPPER ALLOYS
DISSOCIATION
DRIFT CHAMBERS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRODES
ELEMENTS
GAIN
GOLD
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
MOLECULES
MULTIWIRE PROPORTIONAL CHAMBERS
NICKEL ALLOYS
NICKEL BASE ALLOYS
OXIDATION
POLYMERIZATION
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
QUENCHING
RADIATION DETECTORS
SERVICE LIFE
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TUNGSTEN
WIRES