A systematic quartz extraction method for retrospective dosimetry and dating

Abstract Estimation of radiation dose using materials available at the exposure site is very challenging. Quartz, the main constituent of building materials, is radiation-sensitive and has been widely used for this purpose. Extraction of quartz from the building materials is an essential step towards dose estimation. In this work, five methods based on two types of chemical treatments have been used to extract quartz from the brick sample, and the effectiveness of these methods was compared with two widely used extraction methods. FTIR, XRD, XRF, and TL/OSL analysis authenticated the purity of the extracted quartz, which was lacking in the reported studies. Mechanical shaker and microwave digester has been utilized for reducing the duration of extraction without affecting the purity of quartz. Additionally, a comprehensive investigation on the effects of chemicals used in each step of the most effective method has been carried out. Finally, dose estimation was carried out after extracting quartz from irradiated bricks, and the dose was estimated within ±10% of the delivered dose.