ESR response of powder samples of clear fused quartz material to high doses of 10 MeV electrons: possible applications for industrial radiation processing

Powder samples of clear fused quartz were irradiated by 10 MeV electrons at doses between 6-15 kGy and 25-37 kGy and analyzed with electron spin resonance. The reproducibility of the material dose response curve was studied, in which the irradiated samples were annealed and reused for further investigations. Results indicate a good linearity between the absorbed dose and the ESR intensity of the signals. They also showed that in the reuse processes, the electron spin resonance signal intensity, in both dose ranges was decreased. The thermal fading represented a relative sharp decay at room temperature through 15 days, after which the decay-rate was negligible for a measurement period of 60 days.