Ion Beam Activation for Materials Analysis: Methods and Applications

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Abstract
A number of ion beam methods for materials analysis have been developed using Harwell's high voltage accelerators and these are currently being exploited for applications `in house' and in industry. Ion beam activation is a relatively new area which has exhibited exceptional growth over the last few years. Activation by ion beams to produce a single dominant radioisotope as a surface label (thin layer activation or TLA) is becoming a mature technology offering ever increasing sensitivity for surface loss measurement (currently better than 0.1 μm or 10-7 cm3 depending on the method of measurement) and remote monitoring of inaccessible components during studies of wear/erosion/ corrosion/sputtering and the like. With the increasingly established credibility of the method has come the realisation that: (i) more complex and even multiple activation profilescan be used to extract more information on the characteristics of the surface loss process, (ii) that an analogous method can be used even on radiation sensitive materials through the newly established indirect recoil implantation process. (iii) that there is scope for treatment of truly immovable objects through the implantation of fission fragments, (iv) there is vast potential in the area of activation analysis. The current state of development of these methods which greatly extend the scope of conventional TLA will be briefly reviewed. Current applications of these and TLA in industry are discussed.