RADIOCHROMIC LEUKO DYE DOSIMETRY SOLUTIONS RESEARCH ON THE CAUSE OF YELLOWING

SOME BATCHES OF RADIOCHROMIC LEUKO DYE SOLUTIONS UNDERGO YELLOWING IN THE BASENCE OF EXPOSURE TO RADIATION. WHILE IT IS POSSIBLE THAT AN IMPURITY IN THOSE BATCHES MAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROBLEM, OTHER CAUSES OF THE REACTION ARE POSSIBLE. FOR EXAMPLE, AN IMPURITY COMMON TO ALL BATCHES MAY ORDINARILY BE CONTROLLED BY A STABILIZER THATIS ABSORBED BY SOME BATCHES OF CONTAINER MATERIAL. THEREFORE, WE PROPOSE AN EFFORT THAT, INSTEAD OF RELYING EXCLUSIVELY ON CHEMICAL ANALYSES, ALSO ADDRESSES IMPORTANT ENERGY-HANDLING MARKERS---FLUORESCENCE, PHOSPHORESCENCE, AND CHEMILUMINESCENCE--FROM THE SOLUTIONS, THEIR COMPONENTS, AND THEIR CONTAINERS. THIS APPROACH WILL PROVIDE GREAT SENSITIVITY FOR COMPOSITIONAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD AND POOR LEUKO DYE SOLUTIONS, CHANGES IN COMPOSITION OF THE SOLUTIONS WHILE IN THEIR CONTAINERS, AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH YELLOWING. ADDITIONA, CHEMICAL ANALYSIS, AS MAY BE NECESSARY, WILL BE GUIDED BY THE LUMINESCENCE WORK. THE WORK WILL PRODUCE A KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAUSE OF THE YELLOWING PROBLEM AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ITS SOLUTION.