Fast neutron dose response of a commercial polycarbonate

Abstract

A commercial polycarbonate produced in Brazil is being studied to be used as neutron detector material using Solid State Nuclear Track Detection (SSNTD) method replacing the well-known detector materials Makrofol and CR-39. This technique is based on the damage (tracks) registration of charged particles produced by the interaction of neutrons with carbon and oxygen atoms of some dielectric materials. The IPEN dosimeter prototype is composed by 30 × 10 × 1.5 mm3 polycarbonate piece inserted between two Polymethyl Methacralate (PMMA) plates 2 mm thick. The prototypes were irradiated placed on an ISO slab phantom using an isotropic 241AmBe source at LN/LNMRI (Neutrons Laboratory of the National Laboratory of Ionizing Radiation Metrology). To study the dose response groups of five prototypes were irradiated with Hp(10) from 0.5 to 20 mSv with normal incidence and to investigate the angular incidence effect with Hp(10) = 5 mSv with incidence angles of 15°, 45°, 60°, 75°, 85° and 90°. The detectors were revealed by chemical etching with the solution PEW-40 during 3 h. The track density of the detector surface was determined by the average of track counting of five fields (20 × 0.1 mm2). The track response to equivalent dose Hp(10) showed a good agreement with linear fit in the studied interval. The track density strongly decreases for incidence angles higher than 45°.