Toward a new polyethylene scattering law determined using inelastic neutron scattering

Monte Carlo neutron transport codes such as MCNP rely on accurate data for nuclear physics cross-sections to produce accurate results. At low energy, this takes the form of scattering laws based on the dynamic structure factor, S(Q,E). High density polyethylene (HDPE) is frequently employed as a neutron moderator at both high and low temperatures, however the only cross-sections available are for ambient temperatures (∼300K), and the evaluation has not been updated in quite some time. In this paper we describe inelastic neutron scattering measurements on HDPE at 5 and 294K which are used to improve the scattering law for HDPE. We review some of the past HDPE scattering laws, describe the experimental methods, and compare computations using these models to the measured S(Q,E). The total cross-section is compared to available data, and the treatment of the carbon secondary scatterer as a free gas is assessed. We also discuss the use of the measurement itself as a scattering law via the one phonon approximation. We show that a scattering law computed using a more detailed model for the Generalized Density of States (GDOS) compares more favorably to this experiment, suggesting that inelastic neutron scattering can play an important role in both the development and validation of new scattering laws for Monte Carlo work. ► Polyethylene at 5K and 300K is measured using inelastic neutron scattering (INS). ► Measurements conducted at the Wide Angular-Range Chopper Spectrometer at SNS. ► Several models for Polyethylene are compared to measurements. ► Improvements to existing models for the polyethylene scattering law are suggested. ► INS is shown to be highly valuable tool for scattering law development.