Transmutation products may influence radiotracer diffusion rates in an ionic solid.
An inherent aspect of radiotracer diffusion is that alpha, beta(+), or beta(-) emission produces a daughter element of different ionization state. This process must either cause a change in the vacancy concentrations or create space charge, depending on the effectiveness of the internal sources or sinks. Four coupled equations established to model the kinetics, when solved by numerical methods, predict that the apparent tracer diffusion rate may easily be in error by a factor of 2 or 3 and, under certain conditions, by as much as an order of magnitude.
Wei
G C
GC
Wuensch
B J
BJ