The 56Fe(p, n) 56Co reaction in steel wear measurement

Abstract

The 56Fe(p, n) 56Co reaction is used to activate a layer of a steel surface whose depth is determined by the incident proton energy and whose depth profile is determined by the shape of the excitation function for the reaction. The relative excitation function for the 56Fe(p, n) 56Co reaction has been measured to an accuracy of 3% from the 5.45 MeV threshold to 6.25 MeV using a stack of iron foils A measurement of the loss of activity from a surface can thus be converted to a loss of steel from that surface. Wear loss resolution of better than 0.25 μm can be achieved with this technique.