Simultaneous determination of chromium and silicon in steel by 14-mev neutron activation analysis

Chromium and silicon are determined simultaneously in steel by 14-MeV neutron activation analysis. The activities of ⁵²V(E_γ=1.43 MeV,T_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}=3.76 min) from ⁵²Cr(n,p)⁵²V and ²⁸Al (E_γ=1.78 MeV; T_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}=2.24 min) from ²⁸Si(n,p)²⁸Al are evaluated by mixed γ-ray spectrometry. The influence of manganese and phosphorus, the main interfering elements, is negligible for most stainless steels. The count rate should be limited, to avoid ⁵²V pulse pile-up effects interfering in the ²⁸Al energy region. Precisions in the 2-10% range are reached, depending on the concentrations, for a 10-min analysis time. Results for a series of steel samples are compared with industrial analyses.