Rheology modifiers in Fricke – gelatin dosimeters

Abstract

Abstract Fricke gel dosimeters, while very sensitive and versatile, continue to suffer from one major issue – the diffusion of the dose signal. To tackle that problem, here we present the use of inert, linear polymers with very high molecular weights as rheology modifiers that can slow the diffusion in weak gels, based on 4% gelatin. At 0.2% loading of polyacrylamide (with mol. wt. 5×106 Da), a moderate, 20% decrease of the diffusion coefficient was achieved. This effect is compared to that of adding a crosslinker, such as glyoxal or increasing the concentration of gelatin by 1%.