Structural and Calorimetric Studies of original and fast neutron irradiated tissue equivalent plastic A-150

Tissue-equivalent plastic A-150 (TEP A-150) is a popular and useful material in radiation dosimetry. X-ray diffraction technique is used to study the structural modifications in TEP A-150 caused by fast neutron irradiation. The change in the degree of crystallinity beside the change in the particle size and lattice strain confirmed the change in the structure of the irradiated TEP A-150 sample than the original one. The effect of relatively high fast neutron dose (15 Sv) on the thermal properties TEP A-150 have been investigated. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) have been performed on (TEP A-150). The heat capacity at constant pressure (Cp), has been evaluated for irradiated and non-irradiated A-150 samples using the DSC measurements. Cp shows a weak dependence on temperature except at Tg, where it shows a peak. A cyclic scanning technique was used to investigate the thermally-induced phases during two consecutive heating-cooling cycles covering the temperature range 20-300 degree C