The effect of alpha particle dose on the thermal degradation of some SSNTDs

Abstract

Non-isothermal studies were carried out using thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermogravimetry (DTG) to obtain the activation energy of decomposition for solid state nuclear track detectors namely CR-39 diglycol carbonate and Makrofol polycarbonate detectors before and after exposure to α-particles of initial energies at levels between 5.1 and 34 MeV. Thermal gravitational analysis (TGA) indicated that the Makrofol detector decomposed in one main breakdown stage, while the CR-39 detector decomposed in two main breakdown stages. For CR-39 and Makrofol detectors an increase in activation energies was observed followed by a decrease on increasing the α dose. Also, the variation of the transition temperatures with the α dose has been determined using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).