Range and etching behaviour of swift heavy ions in polymers

Abstract

Aliphatic (CR-39) and aromatic (Lexan polycarbonate) polymers have been irradiated with a variety of heavy ions such as 58 Ni, 93 Nb, 132 Xe, 139 La, 197 Au, 208 Pb, 209 Bi, and 238 U having energy ranges of 5.60-8.00 MeV/n in order to study the range and etching kinetics of heavy ion tracks. The ion fluence (range ∼10 4 -10 5 ions/cm 2 ) was kept low to avoid the overlapping of etched tracks. The measured values of maximum etched track length were corrected due to bulk etching and over etching to obtain the actual range. The experimental results of range profiles were compared with those obtained by the most used procedures employed in obtaining range and stopping power. The range values of present ions have been computed using the semiempirical codes (SRIM-98, SRIM-2003.26, and LISE++:0-[Hub90]) in order to check their accuracy. The merits and demerits of the adopted formulations have been highlighted in the present work. It is observed that the range of heavy ions is greater in aromatic polymers (Lexan polycarbonate) as compared to the aliphatic polymers (CR-39) irradiated with similar ions having same incident energies. The SRIM-98 and SRIM2003.26 codes don't show any significant trend in deviations, however, LISE++:0-[Hub90] code provides overall good agreement with the experimental values. The ratio of track etch rate (along projectile trajectory) to the bulk etch rate has also been studied as a function of energy loss of heavy ions in these polymers.

Spectroscopic studies of copper and carbon ion irradiated polypropylene

“…In addition to this post irradiation factor is also a probable factor for the formation of such bonds. Similar results have been reported in case of heavy ion irradiated polymers [9][10]. Another significant observation is the growth of band near 3310 cm -1 on irradiation, which is characteristic sp-hybridized C-H stretching mode of alkyne end group.…”

Etched ion tracks in amorphous SiO2 characterized by small angle x-ray scattering: influence of ion energy and etching conditions

“…This contradicts the intuitive view that the track etch rate should increase with increasing energy which has persisted since track etching was evaluated using mainly optical techniques in crystalline materials. Singh et al [42], report on the range of swift heavy ions in polycarbonate which they have observed by subsequently etching the ion tracks and measuring their length using optical microscopy. The track etch rates so deduced vary from around 2-9 μm min −1 and increase with increasing energy loss.…”

Dependence of track etching kinetics on chemical reactivity around the ion path

“…It is also demonstrated that observed LER depends crucially on the spatial resolution of methods used for etched track detection. In particular, application limits of the optical techniques for registration of ions by measuring LERs of fast ion tracks in olivine 15,17,22,29,30 are investigated.…”