Microjet printing of metal salt or oxide targets for nuclear reaction studies on radionuclides

Journal Article · 17 September 2024 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2024.169883 · OSTI ID:2446816

Essenmacher, Scott D.  ^[1]; Lee, Hye Y.  ^[2]; Vermeulen, Christiaan E.  ^[2]; Gastis, Panagiotis  ^[2]; Kleinfeldt, Chloe R.  ^[3]; Kuvin, Sean A.  ^[2]; Mocko, Veronika  ^[2]; Severin, Gregory W.  ^[3]; Stamatopoulos, Athanasios  ^[2]

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1. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

Radioactive targets for direct measurements of neutron-induced reactions are required to improve evaluated cross-section data and, ultimately, the fidelity of neutron reaction network simulations. Electrodeposition and molecular plating are the current state-of-the-art radioactive target production techniques, but not all metals can be electrodeposited or molecular plated with high yields. Alternative techniques can be expensive or may produce targets that are unsatisfactory in terms of thickness, yield, or purity. Microjet printing is a new, rather inexpensive technique that utilizes equipment with a small footprint and has the potential to produce thin, highly radioactive targets with good uniformity and minimal impurities from the target fabrication process. This study involved optimizing the process of producing microjet printed targets to allow for the fabrication of a stable vanadium(V) oxide (V₂O₅) target that was compared with an analogous electrodeposition V₂O₅ target manufactured via the application of a vanadium chemical conversion coating on aluminum (Al) foil. Finally, the results from these studies suggest microjet printing could be used to produce relatively uniform target layers with adequate film thicknesses (< 15 μm). V₂O₅ microjet printed targets, when compared with chemical conversion coating V₂O₅ targets, appeared to be qualitatively less uniform and quantitatively larger in thickness (11.7(27) μm vs. 5.3(18) μm). However, the conversion coating target contained more impurities and the Al backing had a higher background contribution to measurements of neutron-induced reactions as opposed to targets produced via microjet printing. Overall, the results from this study suggest microjet printing has the capability to be an excellent alternative target production technique to the electrodeposition and molecular plating methods.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Office of Workforce Development for Teachers & Scientists (WDTS)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001; NA0003913; SC0000661; SC0014664
• OSTI ID: 2446816
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--24-25086
• Journal Information: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Vol. 1069; ISSN 0168-9002
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English