1.8 Neutron activation analysis (naa)

Introduction

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a non-destructive analytical method commonly used to determine the identities and concentrations of elements within a variety of materials. Unlike many other analytical techniques, NAA is based on nuclear rather than electronic transitions. In NAA, samples are subjected to neutron radiation (i.e., bombarded with neutrons), which causes the elements in the sample to capture free neutrons and form radioactive isotopes, such as in [link] .

The excited isotope undergoes nuclear decay and loses energy by emitting a series of particles that can include neutrons, protons, alpha particles, beta particles, and high-energy gamma ray photons. Each element on the periodic table has a unique emission and decay path that allows the identity and concentration of the element to be determined.

History

Almost eighty years ago in 1936, George de Hevesy and Hilde Levi published the first paper on the process of neutron activation analysis. They had discovered that rare earth elements such as dysprosium became radioactive after being activated by thermal neutrons from a radon-beryllium ( ²⁶⁶ Ra + Be) source. Using a Geiger counter to count the beta particles emitted, Hevesy and Levi were able to identify the rare earth elements by half-life. This discovery led to the increasingly popular process of inducing radioactivity and observing the resulting nuclear decay in order to identify an element, a process we now know as NAA. In the years immediately following Hevesy and Levi’s discovery, however, the advancement of this technique was restricted by the lack of stable neutron sources and adequate spectrometry equipment. Even with the development of charged-particle accelerators in the 1930s, analyzing multi-element samples remained time-consuming and tedious. The method was improved in the mid-1940s with the availability of the X-10 reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the first research-type nuclear reactor. As compared with the earlier neutron sources used, this reactor increased the sensitivity of NAA by a factor of a million. Yet the detection step of NAA still revolved around Geiger or proportional counters; thus, many technological advancements were still to come. As technology has progressed in the recent decades, the NAA method has grown tremendously, and scientists now have a plethora of neutron sources and detectors to choose from when analyzing a sample with NAA.

Sample preparation

In order to analyze a material with NAA, a small sample of at least 50 milligrams must be obtained from the material, usually by drilling. It is suggested that two different samples are obtained from the material using two drill bits of different compositions. This will show any contamination from the drill bits and, thus, minimize error. Prior to irradiation, the small samples are encapsulated in vials of either quartz or high purity linear polyethylene.

Instrument

How it works

Neutron activation analysis works through the processes of neutron activation and radioactive decay. In neutron activation, radioactivity is induced by bombarding a sample with free neutrons from a neuron source. The target atomic nucleus captures a free neutron and, in turn, enters an excited state. This excited and therefore unstable isotope undergoes nuclear decay, a process in which the unstable nucleus emits a series of particles that can include neutrons, protons, alpha, and beta particles in an effort to return to a low-energy, stable state. As suggested by the several different particles of ionizing radiation listed above, there are many different types of nuclear decay possible. These are summarized in [link] .