Performance of resistive plate counter with non-ozone depletion freon

The standard gas mixture used for RPCs contains /spl sim/60% Ar, /spl sim/40% isoC/sub 4/H/sub 10/ and several percent of CF/sub 3/Br (Haron1301) as quenching agent. CF/sub 3/Br is known to destroy the atmospheric ozone layer. For this reason its use is discouraged, and prohibited by law in the near future. C/sub 2/F/sub 6/ (FC116) and C/sub 2/H/sub 2/F/sub 4/ (HFC134A) seem to be an ideal candidate from an environment point of view since its ozone depletion potential is very low. We present the results of a test performance on RPC (glass) operating with non-ozone depletion freon gas and butane-silver.