Non-destructive determination of dysprosium in graphites by neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Natural graphites, graphite components, spectral and reactor grade graphites have been analyzed non-destructively for dysprosium by neutron activation and γ-spectrometry using^165mDy (1.2 min) and¹⁶⁵Dy (2.3 hr). In four samples the determined Dy content was in the range 1.48 to 0.039 ppm. The deviation was ±18%. The limit of lower detection of the applied method amounts to 0.01 μg Dy, depending on the background contributed by other impurities.