Excitation functions and yield measurements for Proton Induced Reactions in Stainless Steel: Special relevance to Proton Activation Analysis

Abstract In this work, the excitation functions for protons induced nuclear reactions with stainless steel's constituent elements were measured and the results were used in Proton Activation Analysis (PAA) of 18/10 steel samples which was carried out at Egyptian MGC-20 cyclotron. The elemental concentrations were also checked using the EDX technique. The reactions natFe(p,x)56Co, natNi(p,α)55Co and natCr(p,x)52gMn were studied from threshold up to 14.3 MeV proton energy. TALYS-1.6 and EMPIRE-3.2.2 codes were used to model the excitation functions of the investigated reactions. For quantitative analysis using PAA, the apparent reaction yields (i.e. not corrected for the γ-ray attenuation), were measured for each reaction along the proton energy range as well as the target thickness, and normalization factors were given.