Results for “FORBUSH DECREASE”

Photopolymerizable Sol-gel Synthesis for Faster Manufacturing of Surrogate Nuclear Debris

Simulated debris is used to train first responders for potential nuclear detonations. Sol gel chemistry has been used to produce surrogate material for these training exercises, but the current average production time is 4 hours. Optimization using UV-polymerizable sol gel precursors can potentially decrease time as well as cost of the production process. FT-IR spectroscopy was used to measure and compare gelation kinetics of the standard and photopolymerizable sol gel synthetic procedures. Addition of the UV-polymerizable precursors and controlling the aqueous phase volume resulted in a 120-fold decrease in vitrification time.