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Optimization of the Amount of Zinc in the Graphitization Reaction for Radiocarbon AMS Measurements at LAC-UFF

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Kita D Macario*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Fabiana M Oliveira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Vinicius N Moreira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Eduardo Q Alves
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Carla Carvalho
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24001-970, RJ, Brazil
Renata M Jou
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Maria Isabela Oliveira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Bruna B Pereira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Izabela Hammerschlag
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Bruna Netto
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Amanda P Seixas
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
João Vitor P Malafaia
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Lara Moreira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Luana Cunha
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Ayrton Assumpção
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Pedro Mallet
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Loise Lima
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Fabio Lopes
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil Laboratório de Física Nuclear Aplicada, Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid, 445 km 380, Londrina, 86057-970, PR, Brazil
Maikel Diaz
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas, InSTEC, Quinta de los Molinos, Ave. Salvador Allende y Luaces, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba
Ingrid S Chanca
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
Paulo R S Gomes
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author. Email: kitamacario@gmail.com.

Abstract

The Radiocarbon Laboratory of the Universidade Federal Fluminense, in Brazil, has been successfully applying the zinc reduction method for graphitization of carbon samples since the development of its early protocols in 2009. Successive methodological research aiming to improve and, ultimately, optimize the precision and accuracy of our results indicates that graphitization temperatures as low as 460°C promote erratic 13C isotopic fractionation, but an approximately constant fractionation of about –5‰ is achieved at 520°C. In this work, we present isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) δ13C results for 14C reference materials graphitized at 550°C with variable amounts of zinc. Based on the results obtained from the addition of 20, 35, and 50 mg of zinc, we conclude that a slightly lower variation in 13C isotope fractionation during graphitization is obtained with less zinc. Moreover, the average isotopic fractionation is not altered by increasing the graphitization temperature from 520°C to 550°C.

Type
Advances in Physical Measurement Techniques
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

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