Activation cross-sections of deuteron induced nuclear reactions on rhenium up to 40 MeV

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Abstract

As a part of a thorough work of excitation functions on deuteron induced reactions, experimental cross-sections of 185,183m,183g,182Os and 188,186,184m,184g,183Re activation products on natRe were measured up to 40 MeV for the first time with the activation method using a stacked foil irradiation technique and high resolution γ-spectrometry. Comparison with the former results of other laboratories and with the predictions of the ALICE-IPPE and EMPIRE-3 model codes, modified for improved calculations for deuteron reactions, and with data in the TENDL-2011 library are also presented. Thick target yields were given deduced from our experimental cross-sections and compared with the few literature values. For practical applications (thin layer activation) also activity versus depth distributions were calculated for selected isotopes.

Highlights

► Excitation function measurement of deuteron induced reactions on rhenium up to 40 MeV. ► Model code calculations with EMPIRE-D, ALICE-D and TALYS (TENDL-2011). ► Integral production yield calculation. ► Thin layer activation (TLA) curves; 185Os and 186Re.

Introduction

Integral excitation functions for the production of residual nuclides through light charged particle activation constitutes basic data for different applications. To meet the requirements of different practical applications, we started to establish an experimental activation database some years ago by performing new experiments and a systematical survey of existing data of deuteron induced cross-sections up to 50 MeV [1].

We present here new results on deuteron activation cross-section data on rhenium. No earlier experimental cross-section data were found in the literature. Only a few experimental thick target yields are available at 22 MeV, reported by Dmitriev et al. [2].

Rhenium (atomic mass: 186.207 g/mol, melting point 3180.0 °C, density 21.02 g/cm3) is a very heavy (dense), high melting point metal. Rhenium is resistant to heat, wear and corrosion. It is able to maintain ductility between absolute zero and its melting point 3180 °C. This makes it valuable as an alloying agent for hardening metal components, as well as for use under extreme temperatures.

Rhenium is used in many fields (catalyst, electric components, coatings, etc.). Presently, it is mostly used as an additive in super-alloys for aviation technology. Activation cross-sections of proton and deuteron induced reactions are important, therefore, for estimation of activation dose and for use in thin layer activation technology.

A new application is the production of medical radioisotopes. Some alternate production routes were investigated in detail earlier [3], [4], [5], [6].

Section snippets

Experimental method and data evaluation

The experimental method was practically the same as that we applied before for charged particle induced nuclear reactions measurements [7]. Activation method using stacked foils was applied for measuring the whole excitation functions. Two foil-stacks were irradiated at 21 MeV (VUB) and one stack using 40 MeV (CYRIC) deuteron energy. In our experiments, high-purity Mo(52.5)Re(47.5) alloy foils (Goodfellow >99.98%, thickness 50 μm) were stacked together with Ti monitor foils (10.9 μm) at VUB and Al

Theoretical calculations

In order to avoid large mistakes in evaluations of the measurements, to analyze and understand contributions of individual reactions and to check the predictivity of recently used model codes, the ALICE-IPPE [16], EMPIRE [17] and TALYS [18] codes are used in our works. While ALICE-IPPE calculates only the total cross-section of the concerned reaction channels, the TALYS and EMPIRE codes permit to calculate a population of different low-lying levels and can thus estimate the isomeric ratios for

Results

The new experimental cross-sections are shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9 together with results of the theoretical calculations. We present the results of different irradiations separately to show the possible systematic deviations and errors. The numerical data essential in further data evaluation are collected in Table 2. The main contributing processes are shown in Table 1, together with the reaction Q-values.

Thick target yields and activity distribution

In different practical applications, either the total produced activity or the distribution of that activity as a function of bombarding energy and/or the depth are often more convenient to use than the microscopic cross-section data. The production yield is directly connected to the cross-section and to the composition of the used target.

From fits to our experimental excitation functions, thick target yields were calculated and are shown in Fig. 10 in comparison with the experimental thick

Summary and conclusions

The principal aim of this investigation was twofold: in the frame of a systematic study of activation cross-sections of the deuteron induced reactions of metals to measure the missing activation data on rhenium and to check the predictivity of the most widely used theoretical codes.

We present for the first time excitation curves for deuteron induced reactions on natRe targets up to 40 MeV leading to the production of 185,183m,183g,182Os and 188,186,184m,184g,183Re radionuclides. The results are

Acknowledgements

This study was performed in the frame of the MTA-JSPS and MTA-FWO (Vlaanderen) collaboration programs. The authors thank the different research projects and their respective institutions for the practical help and providing the use of the facilities for this study.

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