On the tracks of proton and heavy ions in PC and PADC plastics detectors

In order to understand the latent track formation mechanics in polymeric nuclear track detectors, chemical modification along heavy ion tracks in bisphenol A polycarbonate, PC, and poly(allyldiglycol carbonate), PADC, has been examined using Fourier transform infrared, FT-IR, spectrometry. Track core radius for loss of carbonyl has different dependence on the stopping power between PC and PADC, indicating a quite different response to heavy ions from each others. This implies a possibility of controlling the track registration characteristics by changing the molecule structure between two carbonate ester bonds. In PC, the tracks have three different regions. The central region lost all three functional groups of carbonate ester bonds, phenyl rings and methyl groups, which surrounded by the second region in which the carbonate ester bonds and phenyl rings were damaged. In the outer region, the carbonate ester bonds were lost