Development of sintered composites of CaSO4 doped with Dy and Nd

Abstract

The main purpose of this work is the development of sintered composites in order to allow their use as thermoluminescence (TL) dosimeters using a simple route to preparation and employing high temperature. The composites were prepared with CaSO4.2H2O doped with Dy2O3 and NdO3. Initially, CaSO4.2H2O was dehydrated in an oven at 100°C for 1 h. After addition of dopants and homogenisation, Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) was incorporated into the compounds to make their compaction easier. The pellets, 6 mm in diameter and 1 mm thick, were sintered at 900°C and 1000°C for 6 h. The TL emission curves showed two peaks when the samples were irradiated with a beta source (90Sr + 90Y). During calibration, TL responses were found to be proportional to the absorbed dose. The results showed that this material can potentially be used in dosimetry.