Investigation of (n,2n) cross sections for some structural materials at 14.0 MeV

Abstract

Activation technique was used to measure 52 Cr(n,2n) 51 Cr, 55 Mn(n,2n) 54 Mn, 75 As(n,2n) 74 As, 93 Nb(n,2n) 92m Nb, and 124 Sn(n,2n) 123m Sn reactions at around 14.0 MeV neutron energy. These elements are being used as structural materials in reactor technology. The correction due to the self scattering and self absorption in the samples and pile up effects in the detector was measured experimentally by simulation technique. This technique provides an exact magnitude of corrections experimentally. The experimental cross sections are compared with latest literature data taken from EXFOR database and also with theoretical predictions accounting for nucleon evaporation and preequilibrium emission using hybrid model (ALICE/90) and TALYS-1.4 code over neutron energies from 12 to 16 MeV.