Nuclear reaction of 10 B (n, α) 7 Li and grain size effects on the production of free radicals in alanine

In general, it is important to know the physical and chemical properties of any material that is exposed to ionizing radiation. In particular, in dosimetric work, the amount of the absorbed doses by these materials is of much interest, in such a way that several methods have been developed in the past. An important and quantitatively accessible radiation effect in organic substances is the production of free radicals that can be easily measured by 'ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EPR)'. Numerous studies have been now been made on pure D L-Alanine irradiated with different radiation sources. Examination of the irradiated samples reveals the production of a stable free radical (CH3 - CH. -COOH). In particular, gamma and electron irradiated D L-Alanine has received wide attention in the high doses interval (10 - 105 Gy). In contrast, there are very few EPR studies on thermal neutron radiation induced free radicals in pure D L-alanine. This may be due to the weak EPR signals observed in the irradiated samples. The objective of this work is to study for the first time the increase of the radical yield produced in neutron irradiated borated alanine by the EPR technique. For this purpose alanine has been mixed with borax in different stoichiometric proportions and grain sizes. When the mixture is neutron irradiated, the boron of the borax may experience a neutron capture reaction, 10 B (n, α) 7 Li. With this nuclear reaction it is supposed that the α particles will may impinge on the alanine molecules, producing in this way extra free radicals. Samples were irradiated in the thermal column of a Triga Mark III nuclear reactor with a thermal neutron flux of 5 x 10 7 n/Cm2 -s. A signal enhancement of up to 1260 % is observed when samples of alanine-borax were intimately mixed in a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1. We also studied dosimetric characteristics of the mixed samples such as: a) Sensibility. b) Accuracy. c) Traceability. d) Stability. e)Fading. f) Calibration curve. (Author)