Developing radiation tolerant polymer nanocomposites using C60 as an additive
Abstract
In nuclear facilities utilizing plutonium, polymeric materials are subjected to long-term, close-contact, and continuous α radiation exposure, which can lead to compounding material degradation and eventual failure. Herein we model the attenuation of α particles by linear-low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin films, and C60 using Monte Carlo N-Particle Extended (MCNPX) software. The degradation of these materials was investigated experimentally by irradiating them with a beam of α particles of 5.8 MeV energy at a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator delivering a dose rate of 2.95 × 106 rad s–1 over a 7.1 mm2 sample area. Our development of a method to test α particle-induced material degradation using a tandem accelerator is significant as degradation from naturally occurring α sources (i.e. Pu, Am) occurs too slowly for these sources to be used in practical experiments. Our results show that PVA nanocomposites containing 5 wt% C60 were found to withstand about 7 times the α dose of undoped PVA films before a puncture in the film was detected. When these films were adhered to a LLDPE sheet the dual layer polymer was capable of withstanding about 13 times the dose of LLDPE and nearly twice the dose of the dopedmore »
- Authors:
-
- Savannah River National Lab., Aiken, SC (United States)
- Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1352522
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2016-00365
Journal ID: ISSN 2046-2069; RSCACL; PII: 2206
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC09-08SR22470
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- RSC Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 47; Journal ID: ISSN 2046-2069
- Publisher:
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; radiological; polymers; thin films; modeling
Citation Formats
Christian, Jonathan H., Wilson, Jason, Nicholson, James C., Truong, Thanh -Tam, Kesterson, Matthew R., Velten, Jofef A., Wiedenhöver, Ingo, Baby, Lagy T., Anastasiou, Maria, Rijal, Nabin, Washington, II, Aaron L., and Teprovich, Jr., Joseph A. Developing radiation tolerant polymer nanocomposites using C60 as an additive. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1039/C6RA01126H.
Christian, Jonathan H., Wilson, Jason, Nicholson, James C., Truong, Thanh -Tam, Kesterson, Matthew R., Velten, Jofef A., Wiedenhöver, Ingo, Baby, Lagy T., Anastasiou, Maria, Rijal, Nabin, Washington, II, Aaron L., & Teprovich, Jr., Joseph A. Developing radiation tolerant polymer nanocomposites using C60 as an additive. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA01126H
Christian, Jonathan H., Wilson, Jason, Nicholson, James C., Truong, Thanh -Tam, Kesterson, Matthew R., Velten, Jofef A., Wiedenhöver, Ingo, Baby, Lagy T., Anastasiou, Maria, Rijal, Nabin, Washington, II, Aaron L., and Teprovich, Jr., Joseph A. Wed .
"Developing radiation tolerant polymer nanocomposites using C60 as an additive". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA01126H. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1352522.
@article{osti_1352522,
title = {Developing radiation tolerant polymer nanocomposites using C60 as an additive},
author = {Christian, Jonathan H. and Wilson, Jason and Nicholson, James C. and Truong, Thanh -Tam and Kesterson, Matthew R. and Velten, Jofef A. and Wiedenhöver, Ingo and Baby, Lagy T. and Anastasiou, Maria and Rijal, Nabin and Washington, II, Aaron L. and Teprovich, Jr., Joseph A.},
abstractNote = {In nuclear facilities utilizing plutonium, polymeric materials are subjected to long-term, close-contact, and continuous α radiation exposure, which can lead to compounding material degradation and eventual failure. Herein we model the attenuation of α particles by linear-low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin films, and C60 using Monte Carlo N-Particle Extended (MCNPX) software. The degradation of these materials was investigated experimentally by irradiating them with a beam of α particles of 5.8 MeV energy at a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator delivering a dose rate of 2.95 × 106 rad s–1 over a 7.1 mm2 sample area. Our development of a method to test α particle-induced material degradation using a tandem accelerator is significant as degradation from naturally occurring α sources (i.e. Pu, Am) occurs too slowly for these sources to be used in practical experiments. Our results show that PVA nanocomposites containing 5 wt% C60 were found to withstand about 7 times the α dose of undoped PVA films before a puncture in the film was detected. When these films were adhered to a LLDPE sheet the dual layer polymer was capable of withstanding about 13 times the dose of LLDPE and nearly twice the dose of the doped PVA thin film alone. Doping polymers with C60 is an attractive way to generate more durable, radiation tolerant materials without increasing the thickness of the material which would lead to greater waste for disposal. Furthermore, the results herein help to resolve a prevalent technical challenge faced in nuclear facilities that utilize polymeric materials for nuclear processing and disposal.},
doi = {10.1039/C6RA01126H},
journal = {RSC Advances},
number = 47,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Apr 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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