Light yield, long-term stability, and attenuation length of a new plastic scintillator cured at room temperature

Abstract

We, in collaboration with Carlit Holdings Co., Ltd., developed a new plastic scintillator that can be cured at room temperature by mixing a base resin with a hardener solution. We evaluated the scintillator’s characteristics of light yield, stability, and attenuation length using a90Sr β-ray source. The plastic scintillator showed 40% of the light yield of the commercially available scintillator BC408, or 26% of that of the standard organic scintillator anthracene. The long-term light stabilities of the plastic scintillators, with and without the doping stabilizer agent 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT), were measured for 6 months. The BHT-doped sample retained 80% of the initial light yield over this period. The initial attenuation length of 0.9 m was obtained. The new plastic scintillator showed good stability against oxidative environments, although improvements in its light yield and attenuation length could be achieved by further optimizing its component materials and processing.