ESR studies of irradiated ground corn as a dosimeter

Abstract An ESR study of the free radicals induced in γ-irradiated corn was performed. A single line was detected in the dose range of 0.2–1.8 kGy. The samples were previously ground and it was found that this process induces formation of a free radical with the same g factor of 2.004 ± 0.002 as the one found for the radiation induced radicals. The stability of these radicals was studied as a function of the time and temperature. From the analysis of these results it is concluded that there exist three types of radicals with half-lives of 1.5, 96 and 648 h. The relationship between the ESR signal intensity and the applied dose is a linear one in the above mentioned range, and the radiochemical yield value obtained for this material was G = 2.5 ± 0.3, which suggest that the corn itself can be employed as a dosimeter.