Modifications of the registration properties of charged particles in a CR-39 polymeric track detector induced by thermal annealing

The thermal annealing behavior of alpha and fission fragment tracks, following exposure pre- and post-annealing, in a high polymer material of poly allyl diglycol carbonate (PADC), a form of CR-39, has been investigated as a function of temperature and time. Isothermal and isochronal annealing experiments were carried out on CR-39 polymeric detectors exposed to a 252Cf source. The yields of fission fragment and surviving alpha tracks were measured as a function of annealing time and temperature, as was the variation of fission track diameter with annealing time. The bulk and track etch rates were measured using alpha and fission fragment track diameters and the bulk etch rate was also measured by the weight loss method. The activation energy of annealing was determined using two different models based on the experimental results. This paper presents novel information showing that the annealed CR-39 detectors were demonstrated to be highly sensitive to the fission fragments, but not to alpha particles.