Abstract
Characteristics of electrochemically etched tracks in Makrofol-E polycarbonate track detector, exposed to
252Cf in a 2π geometry have been studied. These studies were done by carrying out the electrochemical etching in 6N NaOH (kept at room temperature) at a field strength of 27 kV/cm with varying frequencies. The results indicate that the fission fragment tracks are elongated with increasing frequency of the electric field. A decline in the density as well as the size of the discharge spots occurs at high frequencies. The ratio of the number densities of the elliptic to the round electrochemically etched discharge spots is found to increase from 1.8 ± 0.4 to 4.6 ± 0.7, on increasing the frequency of the oscillating field from 0.1 to 10.0 kHz. One of the plausible explanations of the results observed is based upon the fact that since in an electric field, the dipole molecules are polarized and orient themselves in the direction of the field, the molecules of the side chains, being less rigid than those in the main chain of the polymer, are stretched in one direction.