Stacked foil activation technique and Ge(Li) gamma ray spectroscopy have been used for determining the excitation functions up to 45 MeV, of six reactions⁹³Nb[(α, n), (α, 2n)^m, (α, 2n)^g, (α, 3n), (α,p3n) and (α, αn)]. Excitation functions were also calculated theoretically by means of the hybrid model with and without the inclusion of pre-equilibrium emission of particles. A general agreement was found in (α, xn) type of reactions.

Excitation function and mean projected recoil ranges of nuclei produced in the¹²C-induced reactions on⁵¹V target were measured by conventional stacked foil and thick-target thick-recoil-catcher technique for bombarding energiesE ≤ 84 MeV for¹²C ion beam. The measured recoil ranges are converted to momentum transfer. Information on momentum transfer was used to get clues about some aspects of the interaction such as complete fusion which corresponds to full momentum transfer and incomplete fusion reaction mechanism. The measured excitation functions are compared with the calculation based on the statistical model which describes only equilibrium decay of the compound nucleus using the Cascade code and the geometry dependent hybrid model which describes equilibrium as well as pre-equilibrium decay of the compound nucleus using the Alice/91 code. The measured excitation functions and average ranges of the radioisotope products of the reactions¹²C on⁵¹V indicate that the three separate reaction mechanisms could be attributable to complete fusion of¹²C, incomplete fusion of⁸Be and incomplete fusion of⁴He respectively with the target. The⁸Be and⁴He are the break-up component of¹²C into⁸Be +⁴He. The predictions of the codes, especially the Cascade, generally agree with the measured cross-sections which could be attributed to complete fusion of¹²C with the target⁵¹V.