Thermal, electrical and optical properties of proton-irradiated Makrofol DE 7-2 nuclear track detector

Abstract

Samples from sheets of the polymeric material Makrofol DE 7-2 have been exposed to 1 MeV protons of fluences in the range 2.5×1013–5×1015 p/cm2. The resultant effect of proton irradiation on the thermal properties of Makrofol has been investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The onset temperature of decomposition T o and the activation energy of thermal decomposition E a were calculated, and the results indicated that the Makrofol detector decomposes in one weight loss stage. Also, the proton irradiation in the fluence range 7.5×1013–5×1015 p/cm2 led to a more compact structure of Makrofol polymer, which resulted in an improvement in its thermal stability with an increase in the activation energy of thermal decomposition. The variation of transition temperatures with proton fluence has been determined using DTA. The Makrofol thermograms were characterized by the appearance of an endothermic peak due to the melting of the crystalline phase. The melting temperature of the polymer, T m, was investigated to probe the crystalline domains of the polymer. At a fluence range of 7.5×1013–5×1015 p/cm2, the defect generated destroys the crystalline structure, thus reducing the melting temperature. In addition, the V–I characteristics of the polymer samples were investigated. The electrical conductivity was decreased with the increasing proton fluence up to 5×1015 p/cm2. Further, the refractive index, transmission of the samples and any color changes were studied. The color intensity Δ E was greatly increased with the increasing proton fluence and was accompanied by a significant increase in the red and yellow color components.