An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Parts Per Billion Doping and Characterization of Uranium Distribution in an Epoxy Polymer Matrix
Published
Author(s)
Jim Mitchell, B S. Carpenter
Abstract
Formulating an epoxy polymer provides a broadly applicable method for homogeneously doping a chemically stable, particulate resistant and radiation hardened matrix with virtually any trace elements of interest. In the example reported, control of uranium levels over the range, 15 ?g/g to 15 ng/g, is demonstrated. Fission track density determinations, referenced to NIST SRM s, indicate 5% variations in lateral uranium distributions. Determinations of levels of uranium impurities in commercially available high-purity samples of graphite, fused silica, and aluminum, show respective ng/g ranges of 3 0.1 to 5 0.3; 3 0.8 to 27 2; and 113 11 to 546 11. The prepared polymer materials cover 3 orders of magnitude of uranium levels in an ideal matrix. This accomplishes the prerequisite for subsequent investigations of the chemistry occurring at fission fragment induced damage sites of selected track registering materials as a function of controlled reactive site densities. The matrix also serves as a source of swift heavy ions for creating nanoscale features in dielectric materials.
Citation
Analytical Chemistry
Pub Type
Journals
Keywords
fission fragment ion sources, nanoscale features, nuclear track counting, ulratrace uranium
Citation
Mitchell, J.
and Carpenter, B.
(2021),
Parts Per Billion Doping and Characterization of Uranium Distribution in an Epoxy Polymer Matrix, Analytical Chemistry
(Accessed February 6, 2025)