Availability of thin Makrofol for track etch studies

["Monty Charles" <charlemw@novell1.bham.ac.uk>]

Does anyone have any experience of using makrofol for alpha particle 
detection.  Can we obtain thin layers - 2 microns or less?  There 
seem to be several types of makrofol - do they differ in radiation 
response?

The reason for our questions:-

We are trying to develop a technique for mapping the spatial dose
distribution of boron in tumour and normal cells in connection with a
boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) radiotherapy programme. In
simple terms a thin tissue sample(boron loaded) is placed in contact 
with a couple of layers of plastic and then exposed to thermal 
neutrons to induce an n-alpha reaction in B-10.  The alpha tracks 
(1.47 MeV) are subsequently etched to provide the spatial 
distribution of boron. The production of the plastic layers follows a 
prescription in the literature which involves the formation of a thin 
layer of ‘makrofol' type plastic using a powder material called 
makrolon.  This is dissolved, cast on water and picked up on a glass 
slide.  The problem is that the prescription is difficult to get to 
work reproducibly.  I won't go into the details - but in an attempt 
to improve the reproducibility we would like to try using a thin 
layer of ready made makrofol foil, instead of casting the film.  The 
thickness should be no more  than about 2 microns in order to 
maintain spatial resolution. We have found only 1 supplier of thin 
makrofol - Goodfellows.  They can provide 2 micron foil in a form 
referred to as macrofol KG.

Any comments, names of other manufacturers, references, etc, would be 
very much appreciated.
Dr Monty Charles, Reader in Radiation Physics
School of Physics & Space Research
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
England
TEL +44  0121 414 3483
FAX +44  0121 414 4725
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