Etch Induction Time in CR-39 Detectors Etched in Na₂CO₃ Mixed NaOH Solution

Six different solutions of 6M NaOH, containing different amounts of Na₂CO₃ at 70°C were used for the revelation of latent damage trails in CR-39 plastic track detectors. These detectors were earlier exposed to fission fragments from ²⁵²Cf source for 30min in vacuum and were then etched in the respective solutions for different etching time intervals of 5-20min starting from 5min up to 160min. The etch induction time in each detector was obtained by extrapolating the intersection of resulting curves of track lengths and track diameters with the time axis.