title: Investigations of a specific surface area of a material on the basis of 222Rn emanation coefficient measurements.
abstract: A theoretical model of Rn emanation by a crystal lattice into the pore space of a material is presented. This model makes it possible to calculate the pore emanation rate of a material. Measurements of the 222Rn emanation coefficient of lightweight concrete for different grain sizes were performed. Using the results of the measurements and the calculated value of a pore emanation rate, a specific surface area of the material was determined. For non-ground lightweight concrete, this value is (1.40 +/- 0.13) x 10(4) cm2 g-1. It is shown that grinding to grain sizes below 60 microns is required to cause a significant increase of specific surface area and thus of the emanation coefficient. However, these results should be treated only as an estimation because the analysis does not account for the real structure of the lightweight concrete. The aim of this work is to present the possibility of connecting the theoretical calculations with the results of measurements in order to determine the specific surface area of a material.
authors.affiliation: Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, Institute of Physics and Nuclear Techniques, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morawska
mesh_terms: D003252:Construction Materials; D003461:Crystallography; D004058:Diffusion; D008433:Mathematics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010316:Particle Size; D011851:Radioactivity; D011886:Radon; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D011886:Radon