Manufacturing and characterization of molybdenum pellets used as targets for 99mTc production in cyclotron

Izabela Cieszykowska; Tomasz Janiak; Tadeusz Barcikowski; Mieczysław Mielcarski; Renata Mikołajczak; Jarosław Choiński; Marek Barlak; Łukasz Kurpaska

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.03.006

Manufacturing and characterization of molybdenum pellets used as targets for ^99mTc production in cyclotron

Appl Radiat Isot. 2017 Jun:124:124-131. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.03.006. Epub 2017 Mar 10.

Authors

Izabela Cieszykowska¹, Tomasz Janiak², Tadeusz Barcikowski², Mieczysław Mielcarski², Renata Mikołajczak², Jarosław Choiński³, Marek Barlak⁴, Łukasz Kurpaska⁵

Affiliations

¹ National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland. Electronic address: izabela.cieszykowska@polatom.pl.
² National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
³ Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
⁴ National Centre for Nuclear Research, Plasma/Ion Beam Technology Division, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
⁵ National Centre for Nuclear Research, Material Research Lab., 05-400 Otwock, Poland.

PMID: 28384503
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.03.006

Abstract

The method of ¹⁰⁰Mo metallic target preparation for production of ^99mTc by proton irradiation in ¹⁰⁰Mo(p,2n)^99mTc reaction was demonstrated. For this purpose, pressing of molybdenum powder into pellets and their subsequent sintering in reductive atmosphere were applied. The influence of parameters such as molybdenum mass and time of both pressing and sintering on the ¹⁰⁰Mo target durability was investigated. Under the optimized conditions, ¹⁰⁰Mo metallic pellet targets with density of 9.95±0.06g/cm³ were obtained. Morphology and structure of pressed pellets before and after sintering were studied by using standard optical microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Nanoindentation technique was used to investigate the mechanical properties such as nanohardness and Young modulus. Prepared ¹⁰⁰Mo pellets were successfully irradiated with protons and ^99mTc was efficiently isolated.

Keywords: (99m)Tc; Cyclotron; Functional properties; Molybdenum; Sintering; Target for irradiation.