| 1. |
- Muraro, A., et al.
(författare)
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Neutron radiography as a non-destructive method for diagnosing neutron converters for advanced thermal neutron detectors
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 1748-0221. ; 11:C03033
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to the well-known problem of He-3 shortage, a series of different thermal neutron detectors alternative to helium tubes are being developed, with the goal to find valid candidates for detection systems for the future spallation neutron sources such as the European Spallation Source (ESS). A possible He-3-free detector candidate is a charged particle detector equipped with a three dimensional neutron converter cathode (3D-C). The 3D-C currently under development is composed by a series of alumina (Al2O3) lamellas coated by 1 mu m of B-10 enriched boron carbide (B4C). In order to obtain a good characterization in terms of detector efficiency and uniformity it is crucial to know the thickness, the uniformity and the atomic composition of the B4C neutron converter coating. In this work a non-destructive technique for the characterization of the lamellas that will compose the 3D-C was performed using neutron radiography. The results of these measurements show that the lamellas that will be used have coating uniformity suitable for detector applications. This technique (compared with SEM, EDX, ERDA, XPS) has the advantage of being global (i.e. non point-like) and non-destructive, thus it is suitable as a check method for mass production of the 3D-C elements.
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| 2. |
- Vitucci, G., et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of the thickness of B4C layers deposited over metallic grids via multi-angle neutron radiography
- 2019
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Ingår i: Measurement science and technology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0957-0233 .- 1361-6501. ; 30:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At the present time, different kinds of thermal neutron detectors are under development at the European Spallation Source research facility, in order to overcome the well-known problem of the He-3 shortage. One of these new systems relies on the use of a 3D neutron convener cathode that consists of a stack of aluminum grids, covered by a 0.9 mu m B-10 enriched boron carbide layer ((B4C)-B-10). As the conversion efficiency is a function of the boron thickness and the mean free path of the charged particles produced in the neutron induced reaction, the characterization of the boron carbide layer uniformity over the grids becomes crucial. In this work, a non-destructive method to map the thickness distribution of the converter layer over the grids is shown. The measurements exploit the white-beam neutron radiography technique where the specimen is irradiated at different angles. This experiment has been performed at the IMAT beamline operating at the ISIS spallation neutron source (UK). The results confirm that this non-destructive, wide-ranging technique allows a reliable and fast sample characterization and that it may be exploited in similar analyses where equivalent requirements are requested.
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