Final LDRD report : advanced plastic scintillators for neutron detection.

Vance, Andrew L. ; Mascarenhas, Nicholas ; O'Bryan, Greg ; Mrowka, Stanley

关键词: PMMA;    STILBENE;    COPOLYMERS;    GAMMA RADIATION;    NEUTRON DETECTION;    PLASTIC SCINTILLATORS;    PULSE SHAPERS;    SYNTHESIS Neutron flux-Detection.;   

DOI  :  10.2172/990072
RP-ID  :  SAND2010-5850
PID  :  OSTI ID: 990072
Others  :  TRN: US1007354

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

This report summarizes the results of a one-year, feasibility-scale LDRD project that was conducted with the goal of developing new plastic scintillators capable of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) for neutron detection. Copolymers composed of matrix materials such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and blocks containing trans-stilbene (tSB) as the scintillator component were prepared and tested for gamma/neutron response. Block copolymer synthesis utilizing tSBMA proved unsuccessful so random copolymers containing up to 30% tSB were prepared. These copolymers were found to function as scintillators upon exposure to gamma radiation; however, they did not exhibit PSD when exposed to a neutron source. This project, while falling short of its ultimate goal, demonstrated the possible utility of single-component, undoped plastics as scintillators for applications that do not require PSD.