Comparison of dichromate and ethanol-chlorobenzene dosimeters in high dose radiation processing

Radiation processing in many areas, particularly in radiation sterilization, demands control of the absorbed dose. Many dosimeters have been proposed for the high-level dose range (region of 10 to 50 kGy). However, in addition to the required reproducibility, reliability or uncertainty (< 5%), it is desirable for radiation processing that the selected dosimetric system is easy to operate. One of those “easy-to-use” high dose dosimeters is the ethanol-chlorobenzene (ECB) dosimeter but only when the measurement of doses is done by oscillometric readout and not when high precision is needed which requires titration of chloride ions formed by irradiation [2]. The dichromate dosimeter is now a well known dosimetric system whose preparation is standardized [4]. It is used as a reference/transfer dosimeter by virtue of its excellent stability and reproducibility. Preparation and measurements can be characterized as “easy-touse”. Considering these characteristics, the dichromate dosimeter seems to be a good candidate for use in radiation processing as a routine as well as a reference/ transfer dosimeter. However, the dichromate dosimeter shows the irradiation temperature dependence which could present a problem in measurements of absorbed doses for varying conditions of irradiation in radiation processing. The irradiation temperature dependence was studied earlier [6], but the verification of consistency of those results in real conditions of irradiation in radiation processing needs further investigation. The present study investigates characteristics of both dosimeters, the ECB and dichromate dosimeter, Comparison of dichromate and ethanol-chlorobenzene dosimeters in high dose radiation processing Bojana Šećerov, Goran Bačić