title: Manufacturing and characterization of molybdenum pellets used as targets for99mTc production in cyclotron.
abstract: The method of100Mo metallic target preparation for production of99mTc by proton irradiation in100Mo(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 the100Mo target durability was investigated. Under the optimized conditions,100Mo metallic pellet targets with density of 9.95±0.06g/cm3were 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. Prepared100Mo pellets were successfully irradiated with protons and99mTc was efficiently isolated.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland. Electronic address: izabela.cieszykowska@polatom.pl.
authors.forename: Izabela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cieszykowska
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Janiak
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barcikowski
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Mieczysław
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mielcarski
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Radioisotope Centre POLATOM, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mikołajczak
authors.affiliation: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Jarosław
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Choiński
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Plasma/Ion Beam Technology Division, 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barlak
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Nuclear Research, Material Research Lab., 05-400 Otwock, Poland.
authors.forename: Łukasz
authors.initials: Ł
authors.lastname: Kurpaska
keywords: (99m)Tc; Cyclotron; Functional properties; Molybdenum; Sintering; Target for irradiation