Abstract
UV–VIS spectra of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) solutions formed by etching PET in NaOH solution were analyzed with respect to the etching time. A linear relationship between absorptions centered at 4.45 and 5.11 eV with weight loss of PET in NaOH solution was established. The relation was applied to study the influence of UV light illumination on bulk etching of PET and to evaluate pore size of etched-through tracks. It is found that bulk etching of PET can be greatly enhanced by UV illumination in air in the wavelength range around 313 nm . A surface area of about 350 nm in thickness shows a 23 times increase in bulk-etching rate after illuminated for 6 h . The phenomenon is attributed to the oxygen-assisted photo-degradation through generating of new photo-unstable species. The enhancement in bulk etching was immediately reduced as the etching proceeds below the surface with an exponential decay constant of about 1.5 μm −1 . Etching of Xe ion irradiated PET films gives extra etching products with similar chemical structure as revealed by spectrophotometer measurements. Quantitative analysis of etching products from latent tracks implies that pores of about 14.6 nm in radius are formed after etching in 0.74 N NaOH at 40°C for 35 min , which is in agreement with the conductometric measurement.
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