石炭灰分定量に用いる放射性X, γ線源の研究

抄録

In order to find the radioactive γ or X-ray source suitable to the determination of ash content of coal by X-ray backscattering, various sources of energy below 60 keV have been observed. Monochromatic X-rays of energy between 10 and 35 keV were supplied by γ-ray excited X-ray sources which consist of the Am²⁴¹ γ-ray source and various target materials of atomic number in the range from 35 to 56. Commercially available sources as Am²⁴¹, H³/Zr and Fe⁵⁵ were tested too. High sensitivity in the analysis was obtained with the sources of energy between 9 and 30 keV. The main difficulty of this method of analysis is that the intensity of scattered X-rays is not solely due to the ash content but dependent on the composition of ash, in particular, the content of Fe₂O₃. With Fe⁵⁵ or the y-ray excited Sr K X-ray source the observed intensity of X-rays was independent of the Fe₂O₃ content. Above results lead to the conclusion that an X-ray source of energy slightly below 15 keV is the most suitable for the purpose.