Cross-section Measurements On Zirconium And Hafnium Isotopes Around 14 MeV Neutrons And Their Theoretical Calculations Of Excitation Functions

Rare high-melting metals zirconium,hafnium and their alloys have been widely applied in atomic energy industry,aerospace industry,national defense industry,electronic industry,etc.Accurate and reliable cross-section data of nuclear reactions induced by fast neutrons on zirconium and hafnium isotopes are crucial for the design of reactors,material selection,radiation shielding calculation,etc,which are also of great significance for the establishment and improvement of the theoretical model of nuclear reaction,the design of fusion reactor and the research of related science and technology.As a consequence,quite a few researchers have been committed this research.However,due to the different experimental methods used by different researchers,or the different experimental equipment,data processing,nuclear parameters,and for some unavoidable interferences some researchers made the necessary correction or deduction,some did not modify or deduct,a great difference between the measured values of different researchers have occurred,which further leads to the major difference of the evaluation values of some nuclear reactions given by different evaluation databases.In the present study,the cross sections of the sixteen reactions of⁹⁰Zr（n,2n）^89mZr,⁹⁶Zr（n,2n）⁹⁵Zr,⁹⁰Zr（n,α）^87mSr,⁹⁴Zr（n,α）⁹¹Sr,⁹⁰Zr（n,p）^90mY,⁹¹Zr（n,p）^91mY,⁹²Zr（n,p）⁹²Y,⁹⁴Zr（n,p）⁹⁴Y,⁹⁴Zr（n,d*）^93m+gY,¹⁷⁴Hf（n,2n）¹⁷³Hf,¹⁸⁰Hf（n,2n）^179m2Hf,¹⁷⁸Hf（n,α）^175m+gYb,¹⁷⁸Hf（n,p）^178gLu,¹⁷⁸Hf（n,p）^178mLu,¹⁸⁰Hf（n,p）¹⁸⁰Lu,and ¹⁸⁰Hf（n,n’）^180mHf were researched around 14 MeV neutrons,by adopting the high current D-T neutron source and the offline acquisition and analysis system of high-resolution HPGeγspectrometer of Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics,with a series of methods to correct or deduct some unavoidable interferences summed up by my research group.In combination with the theoretical model of nuclear reaction,the excitation functions of the aforementioned sixteen reactions were calculated by using the nuclear theoretical model program system TALYS-1.9.The experimental data of cross sections of the aforementioned sixteen reactions were obtained.Moreover,the recommended curves of their excitation functions from the threshold energy to 20 MeV were obtained.The experimental data of the aforementioned sixteen reactions obtained are in agreement with some newly reported experimental data within experimental error,and are also consistent with those of the theoretical excitation curve at the corresponding energy within experimental error.The seven excitation curves of ⁹⁰Zr（n,2n）^89mZr,⁹⁰Zr（n,α）^87mSr,⁹⁰Zr（n,p）^90mY,⁹¹Zr（n,p）^91mY,¹⁸⁰Hf（n,2n）^179m2Hf,¹⁷⁸Hf（n,p）^178mLu,¹⁸⁰Hf（n,n’）^180mHf out of the recommended curves of sixteen reactions fills the vacancy of no evaluation data in the five international evaluation databases.Compared with the evaluation curves given by five international evaluation databases,the other nine excitation curves are in better agreement with the existing experimental data.The experimental cross sections and the recommended curves of excitation functions from the threshold energy to 20 MeV obtained in this study can provide important reference for the design of nuclear reactor,radiation shielding calculation,the construction of experimental nuclear reaction database,evaluation nuclear database and the research of related science and technology.