Comparison of low-energy β radiation effects in polyethylene and cellulose by molecular dynamics simulations

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have compared the low-energy β radiation effects in high density polyethylene and cellulose. We determined the threshold energy for creating defects as a function of the incident angle, for a carbon atom in polyethylene chain, and for one of the carbon atoms in cellulose chain. Our analysis shows that the damage threshold energy is in the both cases strongly dependent on the initial recoil direction and on average slightly higher for the carbon atoms in the polyethylene chain than for the target carbon atom in cellulose chain. Additionally we performed two sets of recoil event simulations on polyethylene sample, with 50 and 100 eV recoil energy, and compared the outcome with previously reported recoil event results for cellulose sample