Thermoluminescence properties of K2GdF5:Tb material irradiated in neutron-gamma fields of 241Am-Be source

Abstract

This paper presents the thermoluminescence properties of K2GdF5:Tb material irradiated in a reference neutron-gamma field and its possibility to be used in neutron dosimetry. Double fluoride of K2GdF5 doped with 10 at% Tb3+ ions was synthesized under solid-state reaction conditions and irradiated in the reference neutron-gamma field of 241Am-Be source. The thermoluminescence glow curves were measured by the Rexon UL-320 TLD reader connected with the WinRex-320 processing program for obtaining the integrated thermoluminescence signals (counts). The results show that the temperature peaks of the irradiated K2GdF5:Tb material concerning the gamma and neutron fields at the distance of 100 cm from the source are at 230°C and 300°C, respectively. The sensitivity ratios of fast-to-thermal neutron and gamma-to-thermal neutron are 6.3 % and 18.2 %, respectively. The batch homogeneity and reproducibility are less than 30 % and 7.5 %, respectively. The linearity is less than 10 % in the dose range of less than 24 mSv. The detection threshold is less than 0.1 mSv, and the fading is 10.7 % after 90 days of irradiation. These thermoluminescence properties of K2GdF5:Tb material considerably satisfy the requirements to be used in neutron dosimetry.

Keywords

• thermoluminescence properties
• k2gdf5:tb material
• neutron and gamma irradiation