Quantitative analysis of ancient Chinese ceramic using k 0-instrumental neutron activation analysis

Comparative performance of semi-absolute k 0-instrumental neutron activation analysis and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) for compositional decoding of aluminum base alloys

Samples of certified aluminum base alloys were analyzed by semi-absolute, standardless k 0-instrumental neutron activation analysis (k 0-INAA) for compositional decoding. Irradiations were performed at two research reactors located at Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology having nominal thermal neutron fluxes of 1013 and 1012 cm−2 s−1. The experimentally optimized parameters for NAA suggest a maximum of three sets of irradiations for the quantification of 8 major and minor elements. Moreover, the same conditions provided quantitative results for 10 other elements as impurities, which were not reported by the supplier of the reference material. The same alloys were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) where all impurity elements, quantified by k 0-INAA, were below the detection limits. A comparison of % relative deviation of the results obtained by k 0-INAA and ICP-OES revealed that the former has better accuracy than ICP-OES, but k 0-INAA has poor limits of detection for Mg, Si and Ti in aluminum base alloy.

Determination of the activation constants for miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) by linear least squares regression

This paper presents a detailed description of the determination of experimental activation constants for 22 elements for miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR). The activation constants have been measured for the most intense γ-rays of the radionuclides commonly observed in neutron activation analysis. The experimental values have been compared with those based on mathematical expression and calculated by using f and α of the irradiation channel and k 0 and Q 0 factors from published literature. A comparison of the expression-based and experimentally determined activation constants shows a good agreement, except for some cases where difference is about 10% of the expression-based values. The activation constants were validated by analyzing synthetic multielement standards (SMELS-I and -II); the results revealed all elements within ±3 Z-score.