The influence of dose on the kinetic parameters and dosimetric features of the main thermoluminescence glow peak in α-Al₂O₃:C,Mg

Highlights: • Influence of dose on thermoluminescence features of α-Al₂O₃:C,Mg have been studied. • Kinetic parameters of the main peak are independent of dose (0.1–100 Gy). • Dose response of the main peak: 0.1–30 Gy, superlinear; 30–100 Gy, sublinear. • Fading of the main peak: ∼22% within 2400 s. • Reproducibility: coefficient of variation in the results of 10 re-cycles: >0.071%. - Abstract: The influence of dose (0.1–100 Gy) on the kinetic parameters and the dosimetric features of the main glow peak of α-Al₂O₃:C,Mg have been investigated. Thermoluminescence (TL) measured at 1 °C/s shows a very high intensity glow peak at 161 °C and six secondary peaks at 42, 72, 193, 279, 330, 370 °C respectively. Analysis shows that the main peak follows first order kinetics irrespective of the irradiation dose. The activation energy is found to be consistent at 1.37 eV and the frequency factor is of the order of 10¹⁴ s⁻¹ for any dose between 0.1 and 100 Gy. Further, the analysis for thermal quenching of the main peak of 0.1 Gy irradiated sample shows that the activation energy for thermal quenching is (0.94 ± 0.04) eV. Regarding the dosimetric features of α-Al₂O₃:C,Mg, the dose response of the main peak is superlinear within 0.1 to 30 Gy of beta dose and then it becomes sublinear up to 100 Gy. Fading analysis shows that the intensity of the main peak drops to ∼22% of its initial value within 2400 s after irradiation and thereafter to ∼14% within 64,800 s. Analysis of the reproducibility shows that the coefficient of variation in the results for 10 identical TL measurements show that reproducibility improves with increase in dose.