Nitrogen autoradiography using track detectors

Steel samples with nitrogen content were irradiated in the thermal channel of the IRT-2000 reactor with a neutron flux density of 2.9x1011 cm-2s-1. Protons from the nuclear reaction 14N(n,p)14C were detected with a cellulose acetobutyrate track detector. This method may be used for determining nitrogen in any matrix in the absence of interfering elements lithium, boron, uranium and plutonium. Two track autoradiograms of the distribution of nitrogen in two types of steel are given. The amount of nitrogen was 0.9 and 0.04 wt.% and the samples were irradiated with a neutron fluence of 1015 and 3x1015 cm-2, respectively. (E.S.)