Determination of arsenic and antimony in "Tatara" steel making sample by neutron activation analysis combined with multiple -ray detection

Inoshita, Shinya*; Suzuki, Shogo*; Okada, Yukiko*; Kato, Masahiko*; Hirai, Shoji*; Kimura, Atsushi   ; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Toh, Yosuke   ; Koizumi, Mitsuo ; Oshima, Masumi

"Tatara" is Japanese original steel making method. Steel made by "Tatara" is famous as low alloy and suited to "Kaji" process. By authors' study, it turned out that we could estimate the source region of raw material of Tatara by As and Sb concentration ratio in Tatara sample. But the concentration of these element in Tatara sample is very low (ppm or sub-ppm order), therefore, quantitative analysis is very difficult. In this study, we adopted Neutron Activation Analysis combined with Multiple -ray detection (NAAMG) to analyze As and Sb in "Tatara" sample (iron lump and sand iron, slag). NAAMG is high sensitive and non-destructive analysis method which combined NAA (Neutron Activation Analysis) and multiple -ray detectors. Each "Tatara" sample (iron lump, sand iron, slag) were irradiated for 1-2 h (for As measurement), 8-17 h (for Sb measurement) in JRR-3M HR irradiation field (thermal neutron flux was about 9.010 n/m s). And cooling time was 4-5 days (As), and 19-36 days (Sb). Coincidence -rays were measured by -ray detector array, GEMINI-II. Counting time was 1-8 hours (As), and 2-41 hours (Sb). Quantification was made by comparison method. As a result of measurement, the concentration of As and Sb in all "Tatara" samples were determined by NAAMG and these were sub-ppm order. Lower Limit of Determination (LLD) of As was 0.1 ppm order and Sb is 0.01ppm order. From the above-mentioned point, the effectiveness of NAAMG to analyze trace element in "Tatara" sample was confirmed.