SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1962
STP44397S

Radioactivation Analysis—Specific for Trace Element Determinations

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Nuclear technology developments concerned with the interpretation of nuclear particle production processes and the measurement of the resulting end products of the interactions of these particles with matter have made it possible to create very sensitive and specific analytical methods based on radioactivation analysis. Nuclear particle, particularly neutron, outputs from both accelerators and reactors that can be used in this analysis method are sufficiently intense to make it possible to determine very small amounts of most elements in many different types of sample materials. In effect, in a radioactivation analysis, the radioactivity of the radioisotope induced into a stable isotope of the element during a nuclear particle irradiation becomes a “fingerprint” of that stable isotope, and a measurement of its intensity makes it possible to determine quantitatively the concentration of the stable isotope in a sample.

A number of investigators routinely use radioactivation analysis in trace impurity problems. In many of these applications, limits of measurement much more sensitive than those possible by more conventional analytical methods have been obtained. Also, it has been observed that the half-life and the radiations emitted by a particular radionuclide being used as the “fingerprint” are never exactly duplicated by any other radionuclide; thus, radioactivation analysis is a very specific method. It is also extremely free of the contamination difficulties experienced in other analytical methods unless the contamination has been introduced into the sample before the start of the nuclear particle irradiation.

The most used method is that of neutron radioactivation. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, neutron radioactivation analysis has been used to determine microgram and submicrogram amounts of almost all of the elements in many different sample materials. It is the intent of this report to describe certain neutron radioactivation analysis applications used in the determination of trace elements in metals. Information about multisample handling techniques, irradiation methods, processing of irradiated sample materials, and radioactivity measurements by means of gamma spectrometry employed in these applications are given. Typical data obtained in the analysis of high-purity metals such as silicon, titanium, bismuth, zirconium, aluminum, and columbium are reported. The paper concludes with some speculations about the use of commercially available irradiation equipment in routine activation analysis problems in the metals industry.

Author Information

Leddicotte, G., W.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Union Carbide Nuclear Co., Oak Ridge, Tenn
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Developed by Committee: E03
Pages: 21–43
DOI: 10.1520/STP44397S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-6202-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-6203-7