Issue 6, 2016

Determination of radiogenic silicon and its isotopes in neutron irradiated aluminum alloys by ICP-MS

Abstract

Aluminum alloy is frequently used as component material in research nuclear reactors. Thermal neutron irradiation of aluminum causes it to undergo transmutation to silicon. The production of silicon inside of aluminum alloy changes its material and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the concentration and the isotopic composition of the radiogenic silicon provides information on the irradiation history of the material and operation history of the reactor both of which are important to nuclear forensics and nuclear archaeology. An analytical method has been developed to determine the concentration and isotopic composition of radiogenic silicon using sector field ICP-MS. Applying a mass resolution of 3000 avoided severe spectral interferences from poly-atomic and doubly charged ion species generated from the solution matrix observed using lower resolution mass spectrometers. The measured content of radiogenic silicon in aluminium alloy materials irradiated with known fluence of thermal neutrons agreed well with the theoretically predicted values.

Graphical abstract: Determination of radiogenic silicon and its isotopes in neutron irradiated aluminum alloys by ICP-MS

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Mas 2016
Accepted
21 Eph 2016
First published
28 Eph 2016

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2016,31, 1174-1178

Determination of radiogenic silicon and its isotopes in neutron irradiated aluminum alloys by ICP-MS

Y. Shi, C. Broome and R. Collins, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2016, 31, 1174 DOI: 10.1039/C6JA00081A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements