Use of fast neutron activation analysis in ferrous metallurgy

The fast neutron activation analysis for analyzing steel samples and samples of other metallurgical materials was investigated in the Steel Laboratory in Prague. An oxygen determination technique in ferrosilicon samples has been developed. When determining nitrogen in steel, it has been shown that the method is applicable only for a semiqualitative analysis. For an accurate determination, it is necessary to remove nitrogen from the sample, because direct measurement is hampered by the radioisotopes generated in the material matrix. The method of the neutron activation analysis is suitable for rapid determination of silicon in steel samples containing over 0.02 or 0.05 p.c. silicon (depending on phosphorous content). The present technique has been used to determine silicon in the samples of steel, ferrosilicon, and iron ore. An analysis of alloy steels has shown that the method can be successfully used for determination of chromium in steel, particularly in the high-chromium samples. The further development of the method of the fast neutron activation analysis for investigation of steel and metallurgical materials requires use of computer techniques (for mathematical processing of measured values)