Thermoluminescent dosimetry of ionizing radiations using ZrO2 prepared at low temperatures

The thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) it is a versatile tool for an evaluation of dose of ionizing radiation. A great variety of ceramic materials and their different physical forms allow a determination of the ionizing radiation in a wide dose interval. In this work the results of studying those thermoluminescent characteristics (TL) of the zirconium oxide obtained by means of the sol-gel technique to low temperatures are presented. To these temperatures the material was obtained in its amorphous state (ZrO2-a). The structural characteristics of ZrO2-a they were obtained by means of X-ray diffraction. The TL characteristics studied were: TL curve, reproducibility of the TL signal and the fading of the information. The powders of ZrO2-a, previously irradiated with beta particles of 90Sr/ 90Y, they presented a thermoluminescent curve with two peaks at 150 and 260 C. The fading of the information of the one ZrO2-a it was of 20% during the first two hours starting from this time there was one lost of information of 5% to the finish of the 30 days. The reproducibility of the information was of ± 2.5% in standard deviation. (Author)