Under the vacuum and room temperature environment

polyethyleneterephthalate(PET)

polycarbonate(PC

Makrofol KG) and polyimide(PI) foil stacks were irradiated with various swift heavy ions(1.158GeV Fe56

1.755GeV Xe136 and 2.636GeV U238) . The damage processes in the irradiated polymer latent tracks were studied by X-ray diffraction(XRD)

Fourier Transform Infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy and ultraviolet/visible(UV/Vis) spectroscopy in a very wide electronic stopping power range(from 1.9 to 17.1 keV·nm-1) and fluence range from 1×1010 to 3×1012 ions·cm-2. The degradation of main functional group

alkyne formation

amorphization and red shift of the absorption edge were observed. By quantitatively analyzing the main damages and applying the saturated track model

the mean damage radii of tracks of amorphization and alkyne formation process were obtained for Fe

Xe and U ion irradiation

respectively. The results were explained by the theoretical model.