RECOMBINATION OF RECOIL FRAGMENTS IN NEUTRON-IRRADIATED POTASSIUM CHROMATE

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Abstract
The kinetics of the process whereby the retention increases on heating previously neutron-irradiated potassium chromate have been investigated. The results cannot be explained by any unimolecular or bimolecular mechanism, nor by a combination of a few such steps. The data are not compatible with the commoner diffusion-controlled mechanisms. Experiments on solid solutions of potassium chromate in potassium fluoberyllate suggest that the process involves the recombination of the fragments from individual rupture events. A tentative hypothesis, analogous to the theory of the formation of very thin oxide films on metals, is advanced and it accounts for all the existing data.