Problem:
Plastic scintillators for can discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays. However, the high concentration of small molecule dopant required leads to undesirable plasticizing effects such as softening, low glass transition temperature, and dopant aggregation and leaching.
Hypothesis:
Cross-linking and polymerizable dopants may mitigate plasticizing effects by increasing the rigidity and covalently bonding the dopant with the polymer matrix.
Summary of Results:
Plastic scintillators for can discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays. However, the high concentration of small molecule dopant required leads to undesirable plasticizing effects such as softening, low glass transition temperature, and dopant aggregation and leaching.
Hypothesis:
Cross-linking and polymerizable dopants may mitigate plasticizing effects by increasing the rigidity and covalently bonding the dopant with the polymer matrix.
Summary of Results:
- Identified a commercial and synthesized cross-linker structure-property relationships developed in collaboration with physicists and nuclear engineers
- Fabricated cross-linked samples with 10x higher Shore-D hardness and equivalent radiation detection capabilities.
- Synthesized novel polymerizable dopants and co-polymerized with vinyl toluene to eliminate dopant leaching. Two synthetic dopants retained radiation detection capabilities.
