Kinetic parameters of thermoluminescent of 190 °C and 255 °C peaks of quartz extracted from building materials

Abstract

The use of thermoluminescence (TL) is very useful for application to retrospective dosimetry, that is, to determine the dose of radiation to which certain material was exposed, and consequently the living beings from this place. The determination of the TL peak lifetime may help to clarify if the TL intensity is due to the environment radiation dose or if it is provident from an accident with radiation. TL peaks occurring in the range of 150°C - 250°C, the intermediate levels, are commonly used to retrospective dosimetry by presenting a relatively short lifetime compared to the thermoluminescent geological signal. Thus in this work it was obtained the of kinetic order (b), the activation energy (ET) and the frequency of factor (s) of the peaks at 190°C and 255°C, from quartz samples extracted from building materials. Both were assessed using various methods, and with them was possible estimate the life time of each of the TL peaks, with the order of days for that around 190ºC and hundreds of years to that of 255°C, in the case the sample submitted to an ambient temperature of 15°C. This indicated that the latter can be used in retrospective dosimetry of unfired quartz.