A SUITABLE TRITIUM CARRIER FOR GAS DISCHARGE TUBES

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 00:00:00 EST 1959

OSTI ID:4260711

Reifenschweiler, O

The application, especially in manufacturing processes, of radium and similar radioactive materials as priming agents in gas discharge tubes is very undesirable owing to the danger to health which they involve. To avoid this danger or to diminish it as much as possible, various attempts were made to employ tritium as a priming agent. This radioactive gas is especially suitable for this purpose because of its extremely soft beta radiation, the absence of hard gamma radiation, its high specific activity at a relatively low price, and above all its extremely high maximum permissible concentration in comparison with radium. To avoid the handling of gaseous tritium, which is undesirable in manufacturing processes, the tritium is applied in a suspension of a tritiated titunium powder. On account of the small energy of the beta particles the grains of this titunium powder have to be extremely small. A powder prepared by careful milling and elutriation with grains of about 1 mu proved to be much too coarse. Only a few percent of the beta particles of the tritium then leave the titunium grains. However, by evaporation of titanium in an atmosphere of rare gases, a powder with a grain diameter of about 300 A is obtained. After absorption of the tritium by this titanium powder a suspension in an organic fluid is prepared by ultrasonic treatment. The electron-emitter surface is then very conveniently obtained by painting this suspension at the desired bremsstrahlung by means of a Geiger counter. The loss of electrons by absorption in the titanium is then only about 10%. (auth)

• Research Organization: Philips' Research Labs., Eindhoven, Netherlands
• NSA Number: NSA-13-006762
• OSTI ID: 4260711
• Report Number(s): A/CONF.15/P/2347
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-59
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

INSTRUMENTS
ABSORPTION
BETA PARTICLES
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRONS
ELUTRIATION
EMISSION
ENERGY RANGE
EVAPORATION
FABRICATION
FLUIDS
GASES
GEIGER-MUELLER COUNTERS
GRAIN SIZE
KEV RANGE
LIQUIDS
LOSSES
MILLING
OPERATION
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SOURCES
POWDERS
PREPARATION
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOACTIVITY
RARE GASES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STORAGE
SURFACES
SUSPENSIONS
TITANIUM
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRITIUM
TUBES
ULTRASONICS
USES