Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials

Redding, Caleb; Hackett, Alexandra; Laubach, Mitchell; Feng, Rui; Feng, Patrick; Hurlbut, Chuck; Liaw, Peter; Hayward, Jason P.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.126

Title: Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials

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Abstract

In order to design structures, such as unmanned vehicle structures, out of plastic scintillator, e.g., for radionuclide searches, suitable materials must either be identified or developed. In searches utilizing unmanned vehicles, the absence of an additional detector attached to the vehicle body as a payload could enable the vehicle to travel faster, carry a longer lived battery, or carry other auxiliary equipment which may be useful for search and/or response. To this end, four mechanical characteristics of selected organic scintillators manufactured by Eljen technologies, Sandia Livermore, and Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been measured. Specifically, tensile and flexural tests have been performed to ASTM specifications on organic scintillators with polyvinyl toluene (PVT), polystyrene (PS), or crosslinked versions of these bases. In addition to these mechanical tests, light output testing was performed in order to quantify whether crosslinking or adding organometallic complexes affects light output in the particular scintillator compositions we measured. We found that the tested plastic scintillators have strengths that are comparable to common structural plastics. We also show that chemically modifying the polymer base can show improvements in the mechanical properties without being overly detrimental to the scintillator light output.

Authors:

Redding, Caleb ^[1]; Hackett, Alexandra ^[1]; Laubach, Mitchell ^[1]; Feng, Rui ^[1]; Feng, Patrick ^[2]; Hurlbut, Chuck ^[3]; Liaw, Peter ^[1]; Hayward, Jason P. ^[1]

Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Eljen Technology, Sweetwater, TX (United States)

Publication Date:: 2018-10-01

Research Org.:: Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Contributing Org.:: Nuclear Science and Security Consortium

OSTI Identifier:: 1544567

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1636283

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003180; NA-0003180; W911NF-08-2-0004

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 954; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 42 ENGINEERING; Unmanned radionuclide search; Organic scintillators; Mechanical testing; Polymer crosslinking; Organometallic complex

Citation Formats


                    Redding, Caleb, Hackett, Alexandra, Laubach, Mitchell, Feng, Rui, Feng, Patrick, Hurlbut, Chuck, Liaw, Peter, and Hayward, Jason P. Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.126.

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                    Redding, Caleb, Hackett, Alexandra, Laubach, Mitchell, Feng, Rui, Feng, Patrick, Hurlbut, Chuck, Liaw, Peter, & Hayward, Jason P. Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.126

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                    Redding, Caleb, Hackett, Alexandra, Laubach, Mitchell, Feng, Rui, Feng, Patrick, Hurlbut, Chuck, Liaw, Peter, and Hayward, Jason P. Mon .  
"Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.126.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1544567.

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@article{osti_1544567,

  title        = {Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials},

  author       = {Redding, Caleb and Hackett, Alexandra and Laubach, Mitchell and Feng, Rui and Feng, Patrick and Hurlbut, Chuck and Liaw, Peter and Hayward, Jason P.},

  abstractNote = {In order to design structures, such as unmanned vehicle structures, out of plastic scintillator, e.g., for radionuclide searches, suitable materials must either be identified or developed. In searches utilizing unmanned vehicles, the absence of an additional detector attached to the vehicle body as a payload could enable the vehicle to travel faster, carry a longer lived battery, or carry other auxiliary equipment which may be useful for search and/or response. To this end, four mechanical characteristics of selected organic scintillators manufactured by Eljen technologies, Sandia Livermore, and Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been measured. Specifically, tensile and flexural tests have been performed to ASTM specifications on organic scintillators with polyvinyl toluene (PVT), polystyrene (PS), or crosslinked versions of these bases. In addition to these mechanical tests, light output testing was performed in order to quantify whether crosslinking or adding organometallic complexes affects light output in the particular scintillator compositions we measured. We found that the tested plastic scintillators have strengths that are comparable to common structural plastics. We also show that chemically modifying the polymer base can show improvements in the mechanical properties without being overly detrimental to the scintillator light output.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.126},

  journal      = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 954,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {10}

}

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