Fabrication and characterization of Freon-22 and κ-Carrageenan gel based superheated drop neutron detector

Abstract

Superheated drop detectors are commonly used as a device for neutron dosimetry and radiation safety. They can detect neutrons radiation exposure by the formation of vapor bubbles as a result of the interactions between incident neutrons and the superheated liquid droplets suspended in a gel matrix. Fabrication of Superheated Drop Detectors was done by using Freon-22 as the superheated liquid and kappa-carrageenan as the gel matrix. The detectors were subjected to bubble counting, reproducibility, sensitivity, and dose response tests. The bubble counts nucleated in the detectors were found to have a linear relationship with the calculated dose received.. The 3% and 4% detectors were also found to be sensitive to slow neutrons with detectors providing bubble counts even at a few μSv.