Research on Neutron Irradiation Performance of Novel Boron-Containing Composite Glass Scintillators

Abstract The conventional 6 LiF/ZnS:Ag scintillator, widely used for thermal neutron detection, suffers from poor light transmission, low mechanical strength, and limited detection efficiency, while GS20 lithium glass is hampered by high cost and low light yield. These shortcomings restrict their applications in various neutron detection scenarios. To address the trade-off between luminescence efficiency and detection efficiency in traditional neutron-sensitive scintillators, this study developed a 10 B-doped ZnS:Ag composite glass scintillator using low-temperature co-firing technology. The material leverages 10 B’s exceptionally high thermal neutron capture cross-section (3837 barns) and natural abundance (19.9%) to achieve efficient neutron absorption. Meanwhile, the refractive index of the glass matrix was engineered to match that of ZnS:Ag, effectively suppressing light scattering at microstructural interfaces and thereby enhancing scintillation efficiency. The research team fabricated a 5.5 cm × 5.5 cm boron-containing composite glass using natural abundance boron and preliminarily evaluated its emission spectrum under X-ray excitation, which exhibited a broad range of 440–550 nm with a peak at 440 nm. Under alpha-particle irradiation, the scintillator screen demonstrated a signal rise time of < 120 ns and a decay lifetime (τ) of < 3μs. The neutron irradiation performance of ZnS:Ag composite glass scintillators doped with 10 B was tested at the BL20 neutron beamline of the China Spallation Neutron Source. The results show that the light yield of the 40wt% ZnS:Ag composite scintillator glass sample reaches 65% of that of the commercial 6 LiF/ZnS:Ag, which is much higher than that of the commercial GS20 lithium glass. However, its detection efficiency is lower than that of the 25wt% ZnS:Ag composite scintillator, which is consistent with the theoretical expectation. It is expected that both high detection efficiency and high light yield can be achieved in the future.