Abstract
The effect of electron beam irradiation on the structure and optical properties of a PM-355 solid-state nuclear track detector has been investigated. Samples from PM-355 were irradiated with electron beams with different doses ranging from 20 to 250 kGy. The structural and optical modifications in the electron beam-irradiated PM-355 samples have been studied as a function of dose using different characterization techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Vickers hardness, refractive index and color difference measurements. The Commission International de E'Claire (CIE units x, y and z) methodology was used in this work for the description of colored samples. In addition, the color differences between the non-irradiated sample and those irradiated with different electron beam doses were calculated. The results indicate that the PM-355 detector acquires color changes under electron beam irradiation.