Equilibrium emission of nuclear fragments

In the present paper data are presented which demonstrate that for IMF production the use of intermediate energy heavy-ion-induced reactions at energies of 15-30 MeV/nucleon is extremely tenuous due to the possibility of contributions from deep inelastic collisions, fission and from preequilibrium mechanisms. Furthermore it is argued that the apparent temperatures extracted from the slopes of the fragment energy spectra correlate with the reaction variables in a manner which is more consistent with pre-equilibrium emission in the spirit of the exciton model, instead of a spatially localized thermal excitation or a 'hot spot'. (orig./BBOE)