Use of the exp 14 N(D,p gamma ) exp 15 N Reaction to Measure Nitrogen Concentrations in Steel

摘要

The observation of prompt gamma -rays emitted in the reaction exp 14 N(d,p gamma ) exp 15 N can be used to measure the concentration of nitrogen contained in steel. Analysis of the gamma -ray spectrum and measurement of the gamma -ray yield function over the deuteron energy range 0.5 to 2.0 MeV show that it is possible to generate gamma -rays suffiently high in energy and intensity to be easily distinguishable from background radiation down to nitrogen concentrations of a few parts per million. Consideration is given to the possibility that the local nitrogen concentration near the speciman surface could be modified during the preparation of the surface. A technique for detecting deviations of surface concentration from uniformity is described, and it is shown that with careful preparation, modification of the nitrogen concentration is not a problem. Analysis of four steel specimans from U.S. National Bureau of Standards, with known nitrogen concentrations demonstrates that nitrogen can be measured by this technique down to 30 ppm to better than 15% accuracy. (Atomindex citation 09:410529)