The determination of fluorine in bones by non-destructive neutron activation analysis using 11.2 sec20F

Abstract

A fast non-destructive determination of fluorine in bone samples by thermal neutron activation analysis using19F(n, γ)20F reaction was developed. About 0.1–1 g samples is irradiated for 15 sec in TRIGA MARK II reactor at a thermal neutron flux of 5·1011 n·cm−2·sec−1. After 15–25 sec cooling, the 1633 KeV20F activity (T=11.2 sec) is counted for 15 sec with a Ge(Li) spectrometer. A standard sample is prepared by mixing CaF2 and CaCO3 powders. The interference from23Na(n, α)20F is corrected by employing24Na 2754 KeV double escape peak activities in samples and the20F/24Na peak area ratio observed previously for pure Na2CO3 powder. The precision is 7% for a bone sample containing 1020 ppm F and the sensitivity is about 10 ppm F.