Behaviour of Neutron-irradiated Ammonium Sulphate on Thermal Annealing

Abstract

THE behaviour of a neutron-irradiated substance in thermal annealing is known to depend on the temperature and on the period of heating. Normally, the retention reaches a saturation value after a few hours of heating. Very recently, experimental evidence was obtained which indicates that the ammonium group in a compound can influence the course of thermal and radiation annealing¹. Potassium and ammonium dichromate were irradiated with thermal neutrons under the same conditions and their behaviour in thermal annealing was compared. Retention of potassium salt for various temperatures was as expected, while the retention of ammonium salt passed through a maximum above 170° C. This suggests that a reduction process is taking place at the same time as thermal annealing. Similar results, have been obtained for the radiation annealing process.