Simultaneous determination of fluorine and oxygen by nondestructive activation analysis with 14 MeV neutrons. Application of the double irradiation technique

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1974 · Jap. Anal., v. 23, no. 1, pp. 63-73

OSTI ID:4315036

Goda, A; Tsuruoka, Y; Sumi, K

In the activation analysis of oxygen using /sup 16/O(n,p)/sup 16/N reaction with 14-MeV neutrons the coexistence of fluorine in the sample seriously interferes with the oxygen analysis, owing to production of the same nuclides by / sup 19/F(n, alpha )/sup 16/N reaction. However, since there is a large difference between the threshold energies for the above-mentioned reactions (fluorine, 1.6 MeV; oxygen, 10.2 Mev) a double irradiation technique provides a means to discriminate between /sup 16/N activities induced by both the reactions. As the result of application of the technique to /sup 19/F(n, alpha )/sup 16/N-/ sup 16/O(n,p) /sup 16/N reaction system, the possibility of simultaneous determination of fluorine and oxygen was demonstrated. Analyses were made by means of 14-MeV neutrons produced by bombarding a tritium target with deuterons. In the double irradiation technique with 14-MeV neutrons, a neutron moderator is used in order to realize another Irradiation position with different energy distribution. Fluorine and oxygen contents are evaluated by a mathematical treatment of the /sup 16/N specific activities of the analyzed samples and of the standard ones after the double irradtation with and without the neutron moderator. The use of a compound moderator which is composed of polyethylene and copper proved to be more effective to improve the analytical precision than a moderator that is made of polyethylene only. As a preliminary experiment, synthetic samples prepared with sodium oxalate and sodium fluoride were analyzed, and the analytical results for the elements in those samples were in good agreement with the calculated values. Then, various samples such as other fluorides, slags and fiuor spars were analyzed, and successful results were also obtained. The analytical precision of the method depends especially on the mass ratio of fluorine to oxygen, m/sub f//m/sub o/. The method is useful in the determination of fluorine and/or oxygen above ca. 1% in materials which do not contain many boron impurities. Compared with the chemical analysis, it is rapid and nondestructive and one sample can be analyzed within l5 minutes in the case of 3 measurements. The double irradiation technique is very promising to avoid the mutual interference between fluorine and oxygen in neutron activation analysis. (auth)

• Research Organization: Kawasaki Steel Corp., Chiba, Japan
• NSA Number: NSA-29-029008
• OSTI ID: 4315036
• Journal Information: Jap. Anal., v. 23, no. 1, pp. 63-73, Journal Name: Jap. Anal., v. 23, no. 1, pp. 63-73; ISSN BNSKA
• Country of Publication: Japan
• Language: Japanese

Related Subjects

*FLUORINE-- ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
*OXYGEN-- ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
INTERFERING ELEMENTS
IRRADIATION
MEV RANGE 10-100
N40110* --Chemistry--Analytical & Separations Chemistry-- Activation & Nuclear Reaction Procedures
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
ORGANIC MODERATORS
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SODIUM FLUORIDES
THRESHOLD ENERGY