Progress report, Chemistry and Materials Division: 1982 July 1 - September 30

During the third quarter of 1982, work in solid state studies included study of energy spectra of Auger electrons from a silicon single crystal, use of an excimer laser to anneal an aluminum crystal implanted with iron atoms, studies of defects created by helium ion irradiation of a dilute copper-indium alloy crystal, and computer simulations of ion channeling in a platinum crystal surface. Work in radiation chemistry on the enhancement of water calorimetry sensitivity continued. A surface science program to understand the temporal oscillations in the oxidation of carbon monoxide over platinum continued with the study of the interaction of oxygen with the (100) crystallographic face of platinum. Studies in analytical chemistry included a comparison of fuel burnup results using 145Nd + 146Nd and 148Nd, and a preliminary investigation into methods of reduction of U(VI) to U(IV), particularly electrolytic reduction. Materials science work continued on the fracture surfaces of Exel alloys cracked in hydrogen gas, the true incubation time for stress corrosion cracking in cesium-cadmium vapour mixtures, evidence for a previously unknown hexagonal phase of germanium, growth experiments in the DIDO reactor on swaged single-crystals, and examination of the first zirconium specimen purified by electrotransport in the CRNL equipment