Instrumental neutron activation analysis of manganese in some industrially important steel samples

The manganese content of some industrially important steel samples viz. IS-226, spring steel, galvanized iron, high tensile steel, and mild steel is determined by instrumental neutron-activation analysis using a²⁵²Cf neutron source. The analysis is performed by measuring the activity of⁵⁶Mn after /n, / reaction on a 4 k multichannel analyzer coupled to a NaI/Tl/ detector at 847 keV, as well as on a single channel analyzer on integration mode coupled to a NaI/Tl/ detector. The results obtained by both procedures show reasonably good agreement with each other.