The interaction of fission fragments with electron beam charged polyfluoroethylene propylene

Author

Berggren, Stephen R. ; John, George

Author_Institution

US Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

1-3 Sep 1988

Firstpage

170

Lastpage

174

Abstract

Interactions of fission fragments with charged polyfluoroethylene propylene (FEP) create detectable electrical signals characteristic of the event. FEP charged with 30-50-keV electrons can attain internal electrostatic fields that approach the dielectric strength. Fission of ²³⁵U by thermal neutrons produces fission fragments with energies of 60-100 MeV that deposit their energy in 20-40 μm of FEP. This induces charge-pair production and a temporary radiation-induced conduction path detectable with conventional radiation detection electronics. The exact mechanisms and characteristics of the phenomena are being investigated for possible use in small, simple, self-powered thermal neutron detectors

Keywords

electrets; electron beam effects; fission of uranium; fission products; particle detectors; polymers; charge-pair production; dielectric strength; electret; electrically charged polymer; fission fragments; polyfluoroethylene propylene; thermal neutron detectors; Conductivity; Electrets; Electron beams; Electrostatics; Equations; Ionization; Neutrons; Postal services; Radiation detectors; Signal detection;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrets, 1988. (ISE 6) Proceedings., 6th International Symposium on (IEEE Cat. No.88CH2593-2)

Conference_Location

Oxford

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISE.1988.38544

Filename

38544