Characteristics of high-purity Teflon vial for 14C measurement in old tree rings

C-14 concentration in single-year tree rings of an old cedar of ca. 2500 years ago is measured to investigate the 11-yr periodicity of solar activity. Our highly accurate C-14 measuring system is composed of a benzene synthesizer capable of producing a large quantity (10 g) of benzene and a Quantulus 1220(TM) liquid scintillation counting system. The accuracy is less than 0.2% for measurements of C-14 concentration. The benzene sample is contained in a high-purity Teflon/ copper-counting vial (20 ml) manufactured by Wallac Oy Company. We found a vial with an irregular copper cap for the measurements of 11 tree rings. The behavior of the vial with the irregular cap was investigated. The Teflon. sheet inside the cap plays an important role in achieving stable measurement. The rate of volatilization of the benzene Was less than 0.35 mg/day for vials with ordinary caps. This results in the volatilization rate of 0.003% for 10.5 g of benzene and hence guarantees measurement at an accuracy of 0.2% for 70 days. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.