Radiation Hardness of materials

["Scott O. Schwahn" <schwahn@CEBAF.GOV>]

WARNING: this post may, in your mind, not be related to radiation safety.
However, I think it is, so I will post it.  My question concerns the
radiation hardness of materials: specifically, CPVC (I don't know what it
stands for, but it a dark gray plastic, and is a less brittle form of PVC,
polyvinyl chlorinate).  

As we all know, an ever-so-slight change in chemical makeup can make a
drastic difference in radiosensitivity (e.g., Teflon (R) quickly
disintegrates in a radiation environment).  So, I have two questions:

1) Do you know specifically anything about the suitability of CPVC in a
radiation environment;
2) Can you cite some good resources in which to look this up?

Why is this an HP concern?  We may want to use it as a piping material in a
beam dump cooling skid, and if it breaks from radiation damage, it would
result in quite a large radiological problem.

Unless you feel it would be a benefit to a majority of RADSAFERS, please
respond directly to me at the address below.  I will summarize  in the near
future.


Scott O. Schwahn, CHP
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Newport News, VA
schwahn@jlab.org