基于氘-氘中子辐照技术的40Ar/39Ar定年样品测试

Measurement of 40Ar/39Ar Dating Samples Based on Deuterium-Deuterium Neutron Irradiation Technique

  • 摘要: 中子辐照发生39K(n, p)39Ar反应是40Ar/39Ar地质定年技术的基本前提,传统的反应堆中子辐照样品存在中子能谱宽而引起副反应多、易引发核反冲效应等问题,严重限制了地质年龄的精确测定。为推动氘-氘(D-D)中子辐照技术在地质定年领域的应用,改善存在的问题,本研究采用单一能量的D-D中子源对ZBH-25黑云母标准物质进行辐照。基于阶段升温技术,采用高灵敏度稀有气体质谱仪对ZBH-25黑云母标准物质的40Ar/39Ar比值进行测定,通过对测试过程中信噪比、39Ar线性特征进行讨论,证明了高灵敏度稀有气体质谱仪可以对D-D辐照40Ar/39Ar样品的氩同位素实现准确测试。但各温度阶段40Ar/39Ar比值一致性并不理想,这可能与样品辐照的均匀性等因素有关,提出了后续辐照及测试改进措施,可为D-D中子源在40Ar/39Ar定年技术的应用奠定良好的基础。

     

    Abstract: Uranium resources are of great significance in the energy and national defense sectors and are indispensable strategic resources for all nations. Against the background of the current global nuclear power renaissance and increasing demand for uranium resources, accurately determining the age of uranium deposits is critical for clearly delineating the scope of prospective mineralization targets, making this method highly valuable for uranium exploration in China. As one of the internationally recognized high-precision geochronological methods, the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique is widely used in uranium resource exploration. Neutron irradiation that triggers the 39K(n, p)39Ar reaction serves as the fundamental premise for 40Ar/39Ar dating. Conventional neutron irradiation of samples using nuclear reactors is plagued by abundant side reactions caused by a broad neutron energy spectrum and pronounced nuclear recoil effects, which severely hinder the accurate determination of geological ages. To promote the application of deuterium-deuterium (D-D) neutron irradiation technique in geochronology and overcome its existing limitations, this study adopted a single-energy D-D neutron source for sample irradiation. The 40Ar/39Ar ratio of the ZBH-25 biotite standard material was determined using the step-heating technique on a high-sensitivity noble gas mass spectrometer. Compared with conventional reactor neutron irradiation, D-D neutron sources offer several advantages, including a more uniform neutron energy spectrum, better alignment with the optimal energy range for the 39K(n, p)39Ar reaction, fewer side reactions and reduced nuclear recoil effects, and easier control of irradiation conditions. However, the neutron flux generated by these sources is relatively low (~108 n/cm2/s), which is 4-5 orders of magnitude lower than that of reactor neutrons, resulting in a relatively weak 39Ar signal following sample irradiation. Furthermore, no domestic data are currently available to verify the accuracy of noble gas mass spectrometers for measuring low-signal 39Ar. By evaluating the signal-to-noise ratios and the linear characteristics of 39Ar during analysis, the results show that the 39Ar mass spectrometry peak is clearly distinguishable. The minimum 39Ar signal intensity obtained at each temperature step for all measured samples exceeds the background signal intensity. The NGX-600 mass spectrometer has an abundance sensitivity of less than 10−6, while the 40Ar/39Ar ratios of the various biotite samples are all less than 106. The tailing effect of 40Ar on 39Ar measurements is less than 1% and can be considered negligible. The correlation coefficient (R2) between 39Ar signal values and the number of replicate measurements is 0.995 53, indicating that the low-signal 39Ar measurements are stable. The results demonstrate that high-sensitivity noble gas mass spectrometry enables accurate determination of argon isotopes in D-D irradiated 40Ar/39Ar samples. However, the consistency of the 40Ar/39Ar ratios across different temperature steps is unsatisfactory, which may be attributed to factors such as inhomogeneous neutron irradiation of the samples. Accordingly, improvement strategies for subsequent irradiation protocols and analytical measurements are proposed, laying a solid foundation for the application of D-D neutron sources in the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique.

     

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