METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CLASSIFYING PARTICLES Russian patent published in 1999 - IPC

FIELD: classifying kimberlite particles according to their diamond content. SUBSTANCE: each particle is irradiated with fast neutron beam at resonant energy level specified for carbon C¹². Image is obtained for each particle which shows how it passes neutron beam; then particles are classified according to presence or absence of diamond in them. Method can be augmented by irradiating particles with neutrons at resonant and non-resonant energy levels; spectrums obtained yield resultant image which is analyzed for classifying the particles. Device implementing this method has hard beryllium, lithium, or carbon target which is bombarded by accelerated deuteron beam at energy of 1-4 MeV to obtain fast neutrons of 7.7 MeV energy and device for sorting out particles into fractions according to their classification. EFFECT: provision for eliminating background noise about analyzed image obtained. 30 cl, 2 dwg