Radiation resistance

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The radiation resistance (also radiation hardness ) describes the relative insensitivity of an organic or inorganic material to the effects of radiation .

Technical components

The radiation resistance plays z. B. a role in technical components that are used in a radiation field (e.g. in space or in nuclear facilities ) and the functionality of which changes due to the action of radiation.

For example, in experiments in elementary particle and nuclear physics, light guides and scintillators (often made of polymeric materials ), as well as semiconductor components (e.g. silicon-on-sapphire ) are often used as detection materials. Depending on the type, intensity and duration of exposure, the radiation can lead to changes in the functionality of the components. Precise knowledge of the radiation resistance is therefore a prerequisite for the successful use of the components in these experiments.

Biology and medicine

Radiation resistance is of particular importance in biology and medicine, e.g. when understanding the effects of high-energy radiation on chemical, biological substrates and microorganisms (see e.g. Deinococcus radiodurans ), or on the biological organism , especially with a view to medical applications such as B. in radiology .

With radiation therapy, apoptosis is activated in the irradiated tissue . Cancer cells of some tumor types can block apoptosis and are therefore not sensitive to radiation . In April 2008, an article about the drug entolimod was published in Science , which describes how one could possibly switch off apoptosis in healthy tissue using drugs in order to reduce radiation damage during radiation therapy. Such a method could also be used in the event of nuclear accidents or attacks. In mouse experiments, almost ninety percent of the animals survived an otherwise lethal dose of 13 Gray .

In general, germinating life and children in particular are considered to be more sensitive to radiation than adults.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ B. Bicken, U. Holm, T. Marckmann, K. Wick, M. Rohde: Recovery and permanent radiation damage of plastic scintillators at different dose rates. In: IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sc. 38, 1991, pp. 188-193.
  2. ^ E. Fretwurst et al .: Radiation Hardness of Silicon Detectors for Future Colliders. In: Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A326, 1993, p. 357 ff.
  3. ↑ A. Dannemann: Investigations into the radiation resistance of polymer materials for use in experiments in high-energy physics. Dissertation, Department of Physics, University of Hamburg , 1996, DESY internal report: DESY F35D-96-06 (PDF; 5.8 MB), accessed on May 25, 2013.
  4. ^ I. Bohnet , D. Kummerow, K. Wick: Influence of radiation damage on the performance of a lead / scintillator calorimeter investigated with 1-6 GeV electrons . In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment . tape 490 , no. 1-2 , September 1, 2002, ISSN  0168-9002 , pp. 90-100 , doi : 10.1016 / S0168-9002 (02) 01057-4 .
  5. ↑ R. Wunstorf: Systematic investigations on the radiation resistance of silicon detectors for use in high-energy physics experiments , dissertation, Department of Physics at the University of Hamburg , 1992, internal report: DESY FH1k-92-01 (PDF; 93.1 MB), accessed on June 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ Lyudmila G. Burdelya, Vadim I. Krivokrysenko, Thomas C. Tallant, Evguenia Strom, Anatoly S. Gleiberman, Damodar Gupta, Oleg V. Kurnasov, Farrel L. Fort, Andrei L. Osterman, Joseph A. DiDonato, Elena Feinstein, Andrei V. Gudkov: An Agonist of Toll-Like Receptor 5 Has Radioprotective Activity in Mouse and Primate Models . In: Science . tape 320 , no. 5873 , April 11, 2008, p. 226-230 , doi : 10.1126 / science.1154986 .
  7. ↑ Federal Office of Public Health (Switzerland): Radioactivity and Radiation Protection. 1999, p. 15.