Preparation of Graphite Targets in the Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory for AMS 14 C Dating

Bibliographic Data

ID9244192
AuthorsJustyna Czernik, Tomasz Goslar (0000-0002-1346-3122)
Year2001
Volume43
Issue2A
Pages283-291
Publication date2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRadiocarbon (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0033822200038121
OpenAlexW2501232329
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited11

A line for preparation of graphite targets for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating has been built in the Gliwice 14 C Laboratory. The AMS 14 C measurements of our targets are performed in the Leibniz-Labor für Altersbestimmung, Kiel, Germany. The quality of our line has been tested in two series of AMS 14 C measurements of background and Ox-II standard samples and by measurements of the amount of CO 2 released during combustion of sample-free quartz tubes. Most background contamination in the first series was introduced during combustion, which has been greatly reduced by baking quartz tubes vacuum-sealed with CuO and Ag. The residual contamination (ca. 1.5 μg C) seems to come mostly from the quartz tubes themselves. At present, most of the contamination of the background is introduced during graphitization. The reproducibility of background preparations is satisfactory, especially for samples larger than 1.5 mg, when it is better than ± 0.09 pMC. Despite still significant contamination with low- 14 C carbon during the graphitization process (corresponding to 1.2 ± 0.2% of 14 C-free carbon), the good reproducibility of the results allows us to use our line in routine 14 C dating

Accelerator mass spectrometry · Carbon fibers · Chromatography · Composite material · Contamination · Graphite · Mass spectrometry · Metallurgy · Mineralogy · Quartz · Radiocarbon dating · Radiochemistry · Reproducibility · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Materials Science · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Environmental Chemistry · Geology