THE EFFECT OF ETCHING SOLUTION COMPOSITION ON THE RESPONSE OF AN ELECTROCHEMICALLY ETCHED CR-39 DETECTOR

Etching solutions of different compositions were applied at room tempe rature (22 degrees C) for electrochemical etching. The background deve loped during electrochemical etching in a CR-39 track detector was inv estigated. Detectors irradiated with alphas of 5.49 MeV were measured also. It was found that the PEW solutions (potassiumhydroxid, ethylalc ohol, water) showed good sensitivity. One of them (PEW (20/40)) was ap plied for neutrons from a Cf-252 source. The achieved registration sen sitivity was about 10(-)5 spot/n after 3 hours of etching time.