Effects of neutron irradiation on optical and chemical properties of CR-39: Potential application in neutron dosimetry

Correspondence and difference between gamma-ray and neutron irradiation effects on organic materials in marine environment

“…This indicates that a degradation process prevails at higher doses. Also, this degradation caused ordering in the irradiated samples to some degree, thus formation of hydroxyl group leads to water formation (Nouh et al, 2009;Sahoo et al, 2014;. Similar is the case of neutron irradiation, but there is more modification as compared to gamma irradiation for the corresponding band.…”

“…The peak absorbance undergoes an increase with increasing gamma doses and this could be attributed to the growing number of double bonded carbon. However, the absorbance was observed to be decreased upon neutron irradiation, which could be attributed to the dissociation of C=C bond at high neutron doses (Sahoo et al, 2014).…”

“…It is in addition beneficial to examine the modification in the physical, chemical, structural, mechanical, optical, and surface properties of polymer due to irradiation (Zaki et al, 2016). In what way, the impact of these changes occurred depends on the structural formation of the polymer substantially as the irradiation conditions such as energy, fluence as well as LET (Linear Energy Transfer) of the radiation (Sahoo et al, 2014;Sangeeta Prasher et al, 2015). The advantageous properties of these materials made it needed in a wide range of applications.…”

“…Water-free molecules, carbon oxides and alcoholic compounds with OH − group are the main products of these processes (Yamauchi et al, 2003;Mori et al, 2013). Thus, such radiation induced damage and the oxidative degradation can cause chemical changes in the polymer structure with an accumulation of various new functional groups as carbonyls (C=O), carboxyls (-COOH) and hydroxyls (O-H) (Clough and Shalaby, 1996;Rivaton and Arnold, 2008;Elmaghraby and Talat, 2010;Sahoo et al, 2014).…”

Neutron dose estimation via LET spectrometry using CR-39 detector for the reaction 9 Be (p, n)

“…Neutron dose estimation using CR-39 detectors are usually performed by the following approaches: (1) Correlation of track density with established calibration factors obtained from the standard neutron sources,[ 12 ](2) generation of the neutron spectrum from track parameters and then multiplying with the dose conversion coefficient[ 13 14 15 16 ], (3) measurement of optical absorbance and then correlating the changes in absorbance with neutron dose. [ 17 ] Each method has its inherent advantages and limitations, but can always serve as complementing to other methods if any of the techniques fail under typical radiation environments. LET spectrometry method using CR-39 detectors[ 18 19 ] is also another way of estimating neutron dose, which is useful in situations when the information about neutron energy distribution and the radiation components are not available.…”