Boron Nitride Coatings for the Enhanced Detection of Neutrons in CR-39

Noah DAmico; Sandeep Puri; Ian Jones; Andrew Gillespie; Cuikun Lin; Bo Zhao; R. V. Duncan

Boron Nitride Coatings for the Enhanced Detection of Neutrons in CR-39

Instrumentation and Detectors 2025-10-27 v1 Nuclear Experiment

Authors: Noah DAmico , Sandeep Puri , Ian Jones , Andrew Gillespie , Cuikun Lin , Bo Zhao , R. V. Duncan

Abstract

The neutron detection efficiency of Columbia Resin 39 (CR-39) nuclear track detectors was assessed for AmBe, 252Cf, and D-T (14 MeV) neutron source spectra. A boron nitride (BN) coating for CR-39 was developed to enhance the neutron detection efficiency by converting neutrons into energetic alpha particles through the well-known 10B(n,a)7Li reaction. Separate partially coated CR-39 pieces were exposed to each neutron source and subsequently analyzed under optical microscope and through large-area Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imaging over the irradiated area. The detection efficiency (tracks per neutron) was evaluated for each source spectra under optical and scanning electron microscopes and with or without BN coating. This resulted in a comprehensive guide to neutron detection with various sources using CR-39.

Keywords

CR-39 boron nitride coating neutron detection nuclear track detector alpha particle AmBe Cf-252 D-T neutron

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@article{arxiv.2510.20924,
  title  = {Boron Nitride Coatings for the Enhanced Detection of Neutrons in CR-39},
  author = {Noah DAmico and Sandeep Puri and Ian Jones and Andrew Gillespie and Cuikun Lin and Bo Zhao and R. V. Duncan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.20924},
  year   = {2025}
}

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16 pages, 7 figures

Boron Nitride Coatings for the Enhanced Detection of Neutrons in CR-39

Abstract

Keywords

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