An extensive aging study of bakelite Resistive Plate Chambers

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2003.10.030
• Publication Date: 2003-11-20T08:03:07Z
• Authors: G. Carboni; S. De Capua; D. Domenici; G. Ganis; R. Messi; G. Passaleva; E. Santovetti; M. Veltri
• Keywords: Resistive touchscreen; Accelerated aging

Abstract We present recent results of an extensive aging test, performed at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility, on two bakelite Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detectors. With a method based on a model describing the behavior of an RPC exposed to a large particle flux, we have periodically measured the electrode resistivity ρ of the two detectors over 3 years. We observed a large increase of ρ with time, from initial values of about 10 10 Ω cm to more than 200×10 10 Ω cm . A corresponding degradation of the RPC rate capability, from about 3 kHz/cm 2 to less than 200 Hz/cm 2 , was observed. The reversibility of the process, using a humid gas mixture, has also been studied.