Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

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Richard Hester
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Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hester »

Polyethylene napthalate (PEN) has been cited as a natural scintillator material, needing no fluorescent additives. I've been wanting to try it out, but so far have not been able to locate a source of the virgin resin or a fabricated rod of virgin material. One supplier has rod stock, but it's horribly expensive and black, to boot. One Chinese supplier has virgin granules, but a minimum buy quantity of 3,000 pounds - that's so not happening...
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Richard Hull
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hull »

I wonder how gamma efficient is it, say, compared to NaI? Still, it would be cool to have some to try out. Pitch black is another non-starter.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Richard Hester
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hester »

It's probably similar to other plastic scintillators re gamma discrimination, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.
Richard Hester
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hester »

Here's a presentation on PEN used as scintillator, also mentions PET, which might need a wavelength converter to mesh with the usual PMT.

https://agenda.linearcollider.org/event ... llator.pdf
Richard Hester
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hester »

A thought - I work for a company that deals in ICs, so we have a bunch of plastic rails around for carrying the parts - one of the rails at my desk shows what appears to be bulk fluorescence when exposed to daylight - could it be molded from PEN?
Alex Aitken
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Alex Aitken »

Possible, but fluorescent chemicals are often added to plastics to stop them being degraded by UV.
Richard Hester
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Re: Polyethylene naphthalate as scintillator

Post by Richard Hester »

I'm beginning to think that the fluorescent bit may be thee anti-static coating on the plastic, as one end has been degraded by exposure to light and there doesn't seem to be fluorescence of any sort on that end. Sigh...
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