Construction of plastic scintillators using ultraviolet based photopolymerization

Plastic scintillators are one of the most widely used scintillators due to their resistance to mechanical stresses and thermal shocks, as well as their low price. Common methods for polymerization of plastic scintillators are time consuming and there are difficulties in making the desired shape. One of the new methods in the rapid fabrication of plastic scintillators is photopolymerization. In this study, UV Cure resin, based on PMMA polymer, and different percentages of diphenyl oxazole (PPO) as primary fluorophore and phenyl oxazole benzene (POPOP) as secondary fluorophore and naphthalene were used to make plastic scintillators, and their optimal percentage of them was determined. The photopolymerization process was performed by a 500Wcm-2 mercury lamp. Samples were compared with a commercial UPS-89 plastic scintillator. The results showed that the light yield of the samples was almost a quarter of that of the commercial UPS-89 scintillator. Also, increasing the percentage of PPO and naphthalene additive, cause increasing the light yield of plastic scintillation.