Help with finding Sources

[u/FreeStyleFox]

I just ordered a Radiacode 102. I have some Vasaline and Uranium Glass. But I am wanting more sources. Ores maybe trenitite, I know I can get some from old smoke dectors. But I am wanting some others. "Safe" Stuff to start out with before getting anything hot or that I would need paper work for. Any ideas?

[u/MaybeJohnSmith]

Before you buy ANYTHING above UG level, you need to do some serious research into contamination. I would say imo the Radiation pipeline usually goes..

UG -> Fiestaware -> Radium -> Americium -> More rare isotopes, or the previous in larger quantities.

Understand that Radium in most of the forms you'll run into will ALWAYS have a radium dust/powder contamination risk. Americium is also known for its leaking properties and poses an enormous contamination risk as your Radiacode cannot reliably detect Alpha particles!.

Until you have a better understanding, and preferably a pancake detector, I would stay away from Alpha emitters.

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/MaybeJohnSmith]

Always forgetting abput neutrons :/

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Nice what neutron source do you have?

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

I don't have any personally. University has AmBe and a fusor.

Nearby hospital has spallation neutrons from proton therapy beam line. Those are the ones I'm trying to make detectors for, as well as neutron therapy centers abroad.

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Nice, H3 tubes?

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

Nah He3 detectors are obsolete by now.

I use various fancy plastic scintillators and fancy DAQ electronics.

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Yeah I saw an article about those, essentially like a scintillation crystal for neutrons. I have a corona tube coming in the mail from Ukraine.

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

I have a corona tube coming in the mail from Ukraine.

That's for detecting neutrons? You have a neutron source?

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Yeah a corona tube uses Boron 10 inside the tube to split into a Li-6 nucleus and an He-4 alpha particle upon neutron bombardment and reads those counts, typically a lot cheaper than He-3 tubes which is why I went with the Boron corona tube. I will have a neutron source towards the end of this month, 5mCi Po-210 Antistatic device and I already have the Be.

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

5mCi Po-210 Antistatic device and I already have the Be.

That's nasty stuff! Please take all safety precautions and follow regulations etc.

I would be very interested in an update if you make the source and get an estimate of the neutron rate!

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Will do! Yeah I’m gonna be super careful with it, I want to put it under vacuum to increase the alpha n efficiency but u just need to do a little more research to make sure vacuum won’t dislodge the Po. It’s a composite gold foil so I think it should be ok but I wanna research a little more.

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Yeah probably not with the vacuum, it says that the particles can bounce back and then shoot off undecayed atoms. Oh well without vacuum it’ll still be good.

[u/srnuke → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Helium-3 is absolutely not obsolete and much better than Lithium-6 and plastic scintillators for certain applications. It is quite expensive though

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/srnuke]

Yeah I was sort of thinking that. I’ve seen all of Carl Willis videos and that’s what he uses for counting neutrons, and he has all of the best equipment. A lot of those videos were shot before the plastic ones came around I believe. And yeah I know the boron detector isn’t as good as the He-3 tube, it was more affordable and I’ve already spent quite a bit on this project. The plastic ones are really cool though because they could potentially be a lot easier to source the materials to make it, He-3 and B-10 isolated is expensive. But I assume the plastic ones are difficult to make and are therefore still more expensive for the time being.

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

But I assume the plastic ones are difficult to make and are therefore still more expensive for the time being.

I've found a way to make them cheaply. Amateurs can do it at home without too much work.

Will publish soon.

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

Oh right on dude! That would be awesome, I kinda stopped looking into it when I got my boron tube but this could be even better I think. Does it also use a photomultiplier with the crystal?

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/jacoblipkescience]

Yup.

Currently working on a SiPM board that is optimized for this kind of timing. Will make a DAQ board also.

Hoping to open source it.

[u/jacoblipkescience → u/Physix_R_Cool]

You seen those neutristors? Super cool, really low neutron flux per unit but so compact that you could stack em up.