Activation energy of etching for CR-39 as a function of linear energy transfer of the incident particles

In this work, we have studied the effect of the radiation damage caused by the incident particles on the activation energy of etching for CR-39 sample s. The damage produced by the incident particle is expressed in terms of th e linear energy, transfer (LET). CR-39 samples from American Acrylic were i rradiated to three different LET particles. These are N (LET200 = 20 KeV/mu m) as a light particle, Fe (LET200 = 110 KeV/mu m) as a medium particle an d fission fragments (ff) from a Cf-252 source as heavy particles. In genera l the. bulk etch rate was calculated using the weight difference method and the track etch rate was determined using the track geometry at various tem peratures (50-90 degrees C) and concentrations (4-9 N) of the NaOH etchant. The average activation energy Eb related to the bulk etch rate vb was calc ulated from In vb vs. 1/T. The average activation energy Et related to the track etch rate vt was estimated from In vt vs. 1/T. It is shown that activ ation energy of etching is a constant value for CR-39 detector where Et was found to be independent on the damage produced by the incident particle.