Influence of uranium enrichment on the etching rate of polycarbonate fission track detector containing uranium particles

Lee, C. G.; Iguchi, Kazunari; Esaka, Fumitaka; Magara, Masaaki; Sakurai, Satoshi; Watanabe, Kazuo; Usuda, Shigekazu

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 245(2), p.440 - 444, 2006/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2005.11.002

The etching rates of fission track detectors made of polycarbonate containing uranium particles were measured after thermal neutron irradiation with fluence of 810 n/cm, in order to study the influence of uranium enrichment on the etching rate that was calculated from the weight loss by etching. There is a strong correlation between the etching rate of detector and the enrichment E of uranium particle: the former increases as the latter increases. Particularly, the etching rate per particle was proportional to E rather than E, which is probably due to the overlapping of fission tracks. The etching behaviors of detector revealed that the existence of two different etching rate regions, a nonlinear region in the beginning of etching process and a subsequent constant region, which was explained as the opening of fission tracks and the broadening of opened tracks, respectively.