Enhancing the capability through Recycling: Doubling the World's Largest Muon Telescope with almost-buried Iron tubes

Pranaba Kumar  Nayak; Muthiah  Muthuvinayagam; Shashikant Raichand Dugad; Sunil Kumar Gupta; Balakrishnan  Hariharan; Paranjothi  Jagadeesan; Atul  Jain; Pravata Kumar Mohanty; Mohamed  Rameez; Kaviti  Ramesh; Yoshio  Hayashi; Saburo  Kawakami; Akitoshi  Oshima

doi:10.62638/ZasMat1282

Authors

Dr. Pranaba Kumar Nayak Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6223-4385
Dr. Muthiah Muthuvinayagam Department of Applied Physics, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha University, Thandalam, Chennai, India Author
Dr. Shashikant Raichand Dugad Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Dr. Sunil Kumar Gupta Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Dr Balakrishnan Hariharan Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Paranjothi Jagadeesan Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Atul Jain Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Dr Pravata Kumar Mohanty Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Dr. Mohamed Rameez Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Kaviti Ramesh Department of High Energy Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Author
Dr. Yoshio Hayashi Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan Author
Dr. Saburo Kawakami Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan Author
Dr. Akitoshi Oshima College of Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi, Japan Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62638/ZasMat1282

Abstract

The GRAPES-3 experiment, housing the world's largest muon telescope at 2200 m above sea level in Ooty, is designed to study cosmic-ray effects on Earth. To double the telescope's capability, we have refurbished nearly the same number of proportional counters using iron pipes that are over half a century old. Before their utilization, these pipes were almost-buried 2300 meters underground at the Kolar Gold Field experiment following its decommissioning. The present work outlines various methods employed for repurposing these pipes, using several non-destructive characterization techniques, including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Infrared Spectroscopy (IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques, to identify iron-bearing phases and conversion products. The results obtained from these instrumental techniques have been presented, along with a brief methodology for integrating the materials into the experiment. This extension of the experiment serves as an exemplary demonstration of reducing, reusing, and recycling the iron tubes that would otherwise be discarded on a large scale.

Keywords:

material characterization, sustainability, proportional counter, recycling, muon

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