Determination of concentration levels of different elements in various industrially important alloys by thermal neutron activation analysis

The steel samples of different series as well as monel, white metal and lead alloy are subjected to irradiation in Cf-252 source with a neutron flux of ∼ 109 n-1s. The activities of the different radioisotopes formed, viz, 56Mn, 52V, 51Cr, 66Cu, 65Ni, 59Fe and 122Sb, are measured at their photopeak energies, and the percentages of these elements are computed by the comparator method of analysis. It is found that percentage of different elements varies from series to series in steel samples and in a given series with the sample. (author)