Design of a multifoil electrolytically controlled etching cell.pdfVIP

Available online at Radiation Measurements 36 (2003) 165–167 /locate/radmeas Design o fa multifoil electrolytically controlled etching cell a a b ;∗ Sanjeev Kumar , Shyam Kumar , S.K. Chakarvarti a Department of Physics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, India b Department of Applied Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, India Received 21 October 2002; received in revised form 20 March 2003; accepted 10 May 2003 Abstract Irradiating polymer lms with heavy ions and subsequent electrolytically controlled etching (ECE) produces nuclear track lters with desired pore dimensions and pore density. During ECE, an electric eld with low eld strength and a frequency in the audio range is applied across the irradiated polymer lm, which is immersed in the etching solution. An ECE cell for the simultaneous etching o fthree irradiated samples has been designed and developed. The average pore diameter and break-through time for tracks due to 238U(11.4 and 14 MeV=u ) and 209 Bi(13 MeV=u ) ions in polycarbonate and polyethylene terepthalate have been measured. c 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polymers; Nuclear track lters; Multifoil ECE; Pore radius; Break-through time 1. Introduction and measured the average pore size, break-through time (time during which the growing cones o fthe tracks from Polymer tra