THERMOLUMINESCENT AND DOSIMETRIC PROPERTIES OF ZIRCONIUM DIOXIDE CERAMICS IRRADIATED WITH HIGH DOSES OF PULSE ELECTRON BEAM

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of thermoluminescent (TL) and dosimetric properties of monoclinic zirconium dioxide ceramics of two types: synthesized by sintering in an electric furnace at T = 700–1700 °C and in a flow of high-energy electrons (1.4 MeV) with a high power density. It has been established that annealing of ceramics of the first type at T>1000 °C leads to a significant increase in the crystallite size, which correlates with a significant increase in the intensity of the TL peak at 390 K after irradiation of the samples with high doses (on the order of kGy) of a pulsed electron beam (130 keV). Type 2 ceramics synthesized by the electron beam method have the maximum TL response. The work also discusses the patterns of influence of synthesis conditions on the kinetic parameters of TL and the nonlinearity coefficients of dose dependencies. The presence of an intense isolated TL peak, the sublinear nature of most dose dependencies, and negligible fading indicate the promise of the ceramics synthesized in this work for measuring high doses (several to tens of kGy).