Classification of lubricants using neutron slowing-down technique

241 Am-Be neutron source base and 3 He neutron detector has been used to classify lubricants. The facility utilizes the fast neutron slowing down technique in which the intensity of reflected thermalized neutrons is proportional to the hydrogen content of the sample exposed to it. A popular market product of different grades was analyzed in this work. Using 600 cm 3 samples, the standard hydrocarbons calibration line plotted was used to determine hydrogen contents in 5 grades of lubricants. Results show that the total hydrogen weight percent in these various grades of lubricants range between 10 to 12% and increases as the quality decreases.