Polyamide woven fabrics with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride or nitro blue tetrazolium chloride as 2D ionizing radiation dosimeters

The development of flat woven fabric-based ionizing radiation 2D dosimeters is reported in this work. Polyamide fabric was surface modified with radiation-sensitive 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) or nitro blue tetrazolium chloride (NBT). These samples responded to gamma radiation of 60Co through a colour change: red and blue for TTC and NBT, respectively. The tinge intensity was observed to depend on the absorbed dose, which allowed for the reflectance of light (R) measurements and calculation of the calibration parameters: dose range, quasi-linear range, threshold dose and sensitivity. Oxygen was shown to be an important factor determining the dose response of the samples. For this reason, a range of additional modifications to the TTC- and NBT-polyamide fabric was proposed which lead to a decrease in the threshold dose and increase in the sensitivity to irradiation of the samples. For instance, a dosimeter made of polyamide fabric modified with 10 g/dm3 TTC, 0.5 mol/dm3 tert-butyl alcohol, 7.5% gelatine hydrogel at pH 10 (vacuum packed) showed the lowest dose threshold (50 Gy), dose range up to 2.8 kGy and the highest sensitivity to irradiation (−0.0396%/Gy) among the compositions studied. In consequence, this dosimeter was examined in terms of response to inhomogeneous irradiation from a 192Ir brachytherapy radiation source. The relative dose distribution profiles across the source's longitudinal axis were calculated. This showed potential of the textile dosimeters for 2D dose distribution measurements; however, further modifications towards improvement of the dosimeter's low dose response can be considered.

► Fabric-based ionizing radiation 2D dosimeters are proposed. ► Colour change under irradiation is one feature. ► Composition impact on dosimeter's characteristics is shown. ► Promising for 2D radiation dose distribution measurements.