Manufacture of scintillator screens

Domestic expertise in the separation of rare earth elements as well as the large reserves of these minerals in Brazil motivated the study of domestic neutron-converting scintillator screens using a granular mixture of Gd2O3-ZnS:Ag. Three methodologies were used to manufacture these screens namely: blasting with a compressed air gun on a sheet of CG3460-3M cellulose; melting of the granular mixture Gd2O3-ZnS:Ag with EVA in a mixing chamber; and deposition of the granular mixture on the EVA substrate. A flux of approximately 4.46x105 thermal neutrons/cm2.s was used coming from the J-9 irradiation channel of the Argonauta/IEN/CNEN reactor.