Open AccessDETERMINATION OF OXYGEN IN OXIDE FILMS BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
Author(s) -
John W. Winchester,
Ross Meyer,
L.C. Bate,
G. W. Leddicotte
Publication year - 1959
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/4166598
Subject(s) - radiochemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , irradiation , oxide , neutron flux , neutron , oxygen , impurity , saturation (graph theory) , metal , nuclear reaction , chemistry , materials science , nuclear chemistry , nuclear physics , physics , metallurgy , organic chemistry , chromatography , mathematics , combinatorics
Preliminary experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of the nuclear reactions Li/sup 6/ (n, alpha )H/sup 3/ and O/sup 16/(H/sup 3/,n) F/sup 18/ to determine the thickness of oxide films on metals. Sheets of thin paper and of aluminum, imbedded in powdered LiF, were irradiated with pile neutrons at a flux of 6 x 10/sup 11/ n/cm/sup 2//sec and counted with an end-window proportional counter. A saturation activity of 1.87 hr F/sup 18/ of 150 dis/min per microgram of oxygen was observed in the paper, but radioactivity due to impurities masked F/sup 18/ in the aluminum. It is concluded that a 1 A (0.01 mu gm/cm/sup 2/) oxide film thickness may be measured by a neutron irradiation at a flux of 10/sup 14/ n/cm/sup 2//sec but chemical separation of induced radioactivity from the bulk metal is essential. (auth