Solid-state nuclear track detectors have found wide use in various domains of science and technology, e.g. in environmental experiments. The measurement of alpha activity on sources in an environment, such as air is not easy because of short penetration range of alpha particles. Furthermore, measurement of alpha activity by most gas ionization detectors suffers from high background induced by the accompanying gamma radiation. Solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) have been used successfully as detecting devices and as a passive system to detect alpha contamination on different surfaces. This work presents the response of CR-39 (for two types) to alpha particles from two sources, 238 Pu with energy 5 MeV and 241 Am with energy 5.4 MeV. The methods of etching and counting are investigated, along with the achievable linearity, efficiency and reproducibility. The sensitivity to low activity and energy resolution are studied.
The present work shows the induced modification of the structural, optical, chemical etching and electrochemical etching parameters of CR-39 irradiated with alpha-particles. CR-39 polymer track detectors were irradiated with different fluences (1.62 × 106, 2.72 × 106, 3.82 × 106 and 5.21 × 106 particles/cm2) of alpha-particles using 241Am source. The structural and optical properties were measured by FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and UV/Vis spectroscopy, respectively. The FT-IR spectra reveal that no major changes in the typical functional groups of irradiated polymer detectors. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that a broad band in the region of 12° < 2θ > 27°, which refers to the presence of the combination of amorphous and crystalline phases. UV/Vis responses of irradiated polymer track detectors exhibit a single absorption band in the range of 254-352 nm that is correlated to the occurrence of electronic transition. Also, the changes in the chemical and electrochemical parameters due to alpha-irradiation are examined and thoroughly discussed.
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