by dyeing of the surface or the bulk of the material. CR-39 is also resistant to most solvents and other chemicals, gamma radiation, aging, and to material fatigue. It can withstand the small hot sparks from welding, something glass cannot do. It can be used continuously in temperatures up to 100 °C and up to one hour at 130 °C. Radiation detection In the radiation detection application, CR-39 is used as a solid-state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) to detect the presence of ionising radiation. Energetic particles colliding with the polymer structure leave a trail of broken chemical bonds within the CR-39. When immersed in a concentrated alkali solution (typically sodium hydroxide) hydroxide ions attack and break the polymer structure, etching away the bulk of the plastic at a nominally fixed rate. However, along the paths of damage left by charged particle interaction the concentration of radiation damage allows the chemical agent to attack the polymer more rapidly than it does in the bulk, revealing the paths of the charged particle ion tracks. The resulting etched plastic therefore contains a permanent record of not only the location of the radiation on the plastic but also gives spectroscopic information about the source. Principally used for the detection of alpha radiation emitting radionuclides (especially radon gas), the radiation-sensitivity properties of CR-39 are also used for proton and neutron dosimetry and historically cosmic ray investigations. The ability of CR-39 to record the location of a radiation source, even at extremely low concentrations is exploited in autoradiography studies with alpha particles, and for (comparatively cheap) detection of alpha-emitters like uranium. Typically, a thin section of a biological material is fixed against CR-39 and kept frozen for a timescale of months to years in an environment that is shielded as much as possible from possible radiological contaminants. Before etching, photographs are taken of the biological sample with the affixed CR-39 detector, with care taken to ensure that prescribed location marks on the detector are noted. After the etching process, automated or manual 'scanning' of the CR-39 is used to physically locate the ionising radiation recorded, which can then be mapped to the position of the radionuclide within the biological sample. There is no other non-destructive method for accurately identifying the location of trace quantities of radionuclides in biological samples at such low emission levels. See also Corrective lens References Plastics Polycarbonates Optical materials Particle detectors PPG