Determination of tin in geological material by neutron-activation analysis

Abstract

A neutron-activation method for the determination of tin in geological material, based on tin-113 (half-life 112 days), is described. Tin is radiochemically separated from the irradiated samples after alkaline fusion, by a method consisting in two sulphide precipitations with an intermediate extraction of tin from 5 M ammonium thiocyanate with diethyl ether. The sensitivity of the method at a neutron flux of 10¹² neutrons cm^–2 s^–1 is about 0·2 µg of tin, if irradiation is applied for 14 days.