Selective determination of lithium and boron in minerals by means of an SSNTD-technique

Abstract A method has been worked out to identify lithium and boron in mineral samples by means of a solid state nuclear track detector technique. The samples have been irradiated with thermal neutrons which react with 10 B and 6 Li and give α-particles of different energies. The ranges of these α-particles in air are measured with the SSNTD-technique and found to be sufficiently different to make identification possible. A number of tests are made and the possibility for determining the distribution and the abundance of lithium and boron in a specific mineral in a rock sample is discussed.