Studies on (n, alpha) recoils of 6Li and 10B in the reactor UTR-Kinki by gas phase electrodeposition.

The energies of recoil particles from (n, alpha) or (n, 2 alpha) reactions of Li and B were investigated by solid state detector and gas phase electrodeposition as previously reported on 228Th series. Nuclear reactor of UTR-Kinki was used as thermal neutron source. Particles from 6Li (n, alpha) 3T and 10B (n, alpha) 7Li were collected on a sheet of triacetate film by gas phase electrodeposition at atmospheric pressure. The film was etched with 6M-NaOH at 50 degrees C. The tracks thus obtained were taken as photographs with a microscope (X600). By counting the number of tracks on the film at various etching times, the energies of alpha-particles were evaluated according to the calibration curve of 227Ac series. Among various peaks of tract density, the two peaks having the evaluated values of 1.85 MeV for 6Li and 1.48 MeV for 10B agreed approximately with the theoretical values of 2.05 MeV and 1.47 MeV of alpha-particle energies for respective reactions.