Activation Analysis Equipment for Materials Testing
Activation test is a nuclear technique used for determining trace concentrations of elements in a variety of materials. It involves inducing radioactivity in a sample through nuclear reactions and then analyzing the resulting radioactive emissions. This non-destructive technique allows identifying traces of nearly all elements in the periodic table in amounts down to parts per billion or even parts per trillion levels. Activation test is widely used for research in fields like geology, archaeology, metallurgy, environmental monitoring and more.
Advantages of Activation Test
Compared to other chemical analysis techniques, activation test provides several distinct advantages:
- It is highly sensitive and can detect lower concentration levels than other methods. Activation Analysis Equipment Trace elements down to picogram quantities can be detected.
- Nearly all elements can be determined with good sensitivity and accuracy by selecting an appropriate nuclear reaction.
- The analysis is non-destructive so samples are not consumed or altered in any way during the process.
- Multielement determination is possible with a single irradiation and measurement procedure. A large number of elements can be analyzed together.
- No chemical separations are needed so analysis time is reduced considerably compared to techniques like atomic absorption spectroscopy or plasma emission spectroscopy which require sample preparation steps.
Equipment for Sample Activation
To induce radioactivity in a sample, specialized neutron and gamma ray sources are needed. Some of the commonly used equipment for sample activation includes:
- Neutron Generators: Portable devices that produce intense pulses of neutrons through nuclear reactions like deuterium-deuterium or deuterium-tritium. They are compact alternatives to nuclear reactors for on-site activation analysis.
- Nuclear Research Reactors: Reactor facilities with thermal and epithermal neutron beams are employed for sample activation when higher neutron fluxes are required. Reactors provide continuous rather than pulsed neutron beams.
- Radioisotope Neutron Sources: Strong neutron sources like Californium-252 and Americium-Beryllium are used for irradiating small sample volumes when access to reactors is limited.
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