Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials

In order to design structures, such as unmanned vehicle structures, out of plastic scintillator, e.g., for radionuclide searches, suitable materials must either be identified or developed. In searches utilizing unmanned vehicles, the absence of an additional detector attached to the vehicle body as a payload could enable the vehicle to travel faster, carry a longer lived battery, or carry other auxiliary equipment which may be useful for search and/or response. To this end, four mechanical characteristics of selected organic scintillators manufactured by Eljen technologies, Sandia Livermore, and Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been measured. Specifically, tensile and flexural tests have been performed to ASTM specifications on organic scintillators with polyvinyl toluene (PVT), polystyrene (PS), or crosslinked versions of these bases. In addition to these mechanical tests, light output testing was performed in order to quantify whether crosslinking or adding organometallic complexes affects light output in the particular scintillator compositions we measured. We found that the tested plastic scintillators have strengths that are comparable to common structural plastics. We also show that chemically modifying the polymer base can show improvements in the mechanical properties without being overly detrimental to the scintillator light output.