NATURE OF THE INTERACTION OF SECONDARY ELECTRONS WITH CHEMICAL SYSTEMS.
Abstract
The primary effort was directed toward development of the procedures and actual experiments for studies involving the interaction of low energy electrons with simple organic compounds, principally n-hexane. Both photoelectric and thermionic sources were used, the electrons were accelerated by means of electrostatic fields built in the irradiation vessel, and analysis of the products obtained was carried out using mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. Other experiments which have been performed included irradiation by low energy protons obtained by slowing down higher energy protons from a van de Graaff generator, as well as preliminary experiments using the recoil nuclei formed by neutron capture processes. Results show that although low energy electrons in the sub-KeV range and protons in the near MeV range have comparable velocities and comparable LET values, the nature of the chemical processes induced by the interaction of these two kinds of radiation may nevertheless differ from each other. Several possible alternative explanations for this phenomenon have been examined and the most plausible one appears to be a concept based on ionic reaction mechanisms for some of the products and the relative total ionization cross sections of these radiations at such energy ranges. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0669145
Entities
People
- Paul Feng
Organizations
- IIT Research Institute