Characterization of materials using accelerators

Mexico has three accelerators used for scientific research, one is located at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the other two at the Mexican Nuclear Research Institute (ININ). In the field of nuclear physics recent efforts have been focused in the areas of characterization of exotic decay modes of some nuclear excited states and the consequences on the paring interaction and the shell model, determination of the strength of the gravity interaction at very small distances, nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure studies. For applications in Materials Science these accelerators have been applying mainly the PIXE and PIGE techniques to analyze the elemental composition of environmental, industrial and archaeological materials. Airborne particles collected in Mexico City were studied using PIXE to determine their elemental composition. Archaeological objects made of metal and ceramic were analyzed with PIXE to determine the manufacturing techniques. (author)