Final LDRD report : advanced plastic scintillators for neutron detection [report]

Andrew L. Vance, Nicholas Mascarenhas, Greg O'Bryan, Stanley Mrowka
2010 unpublished
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 transstilbene (tSB) as the scintillator component were prepared and tested for gamma/neutron response. Block copolymer synthesis utilizing tSBMA proved unsuccessful so random
more » ... opolymers 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 singlecomponent, undoped plastics as scintillators for applications that do not require PSD.
doi:10.2172/990072 fatcat:lqzzhbezkjajtgo463qopishka