January 17, 2017 1 Abel1990 Abell, G. C.; Matson, L. K.; Steinmeyer, R. H.; Jr, R. C. Bowman; Oliver, B. M. (1990). Helium release from aged palladium tritide. Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter, 41:1220–1223. Annotation: Tritium decays by beta emission and forms He; so if you let PdT(x) stand, you accumulate He in the Pd. An interesting question for cold fusion people looking for He, where should they look for it? In the solution or gas outside the Pd, or inside? In other words, how fast does any He come out? These authors examine this and find that, for small He "loadings" (<0.5 He/Pd), the He is practically not released, and that temperatures exceeding 1300 K are needed to drive it out. Aber1990 Aberdam, D.; Avenier, M.; Bagieu, G.; Bouchez, J.; Cavaignac, J. F.; Collot, J.; Durand, R.; Faure, R.; Favier, J.; Kajfasz, E.; Koang, D. H.; Lefievre, B.; Lesquoy, E.; Pessard, H.; Rouault, A.; Senateur, J. P.; Stutz, A.; Weiss, F. (1990). Limits on neutron emission following deuterium absorption into palladium and titanium. Phys. Rev. Lett., 65:1196–1199. Annotation: This group has a new type of neutron detector which will detect any neutron with an energy > 1MeV and allows discrimination against Compton electron background. This was used in an underground lab, where the neutron background was a low 1.7 n/day. Both electrochemical and pressurization cold fusion experiments were done, closely following the example of FPH, Jones+ and De Ninno+. In some of the electrochemical runs, the currents were abruptly changed several times, to test for dynamical effects. Dynamical effects were also attempted with the gas absorption runs (up to 60 bars), by temperature changes between that of liquid N2 and 950 degC, both fast and slowly. In all cases, something like 1E-26 n/pair/s was measured as an upper limit, or a factor of 100 below Jones et al’s results. No bursts were observed. Abri1989 Abriola, D.; Achterberg, E.; Davidson, M.; Debray, M.; Etchegoyen, M. C.; Fazzini, N.; Niello, J. F.; Ferrero, A. M. J.; Filevich, A.; Galia, M. C.; Garavaglia, R.; G, Bermudez. Garcia; Gettar, R. T.; Gil, S.; Grahmann, H.; Huck, H.; Jech, A.; Kreiner, A. J.; Macchiavelli, A. O.; Magallanes, J. F.; Maqueda, E.; Marti, G.; Pacheco, A. J.; Percz, M. L.; Pomar, C.; Ramirez, M.; Scassera, M. (1989). Examination of nuclear measurement conditions in cold fusion experiments. J. Electroanal. Chem., 265:355–360. Annotation: They find levels of gamma and neutron radiation 1/1000 of those of FPH. AbuT1990b AbuTaha, A. F. (1990a). Cold fusion - engineering perspectives. J. Fusion Energy, 9:391–396. Annotation: AbuTaha further develops his theory that ’cold fusion’ is not fusion, but the release of embrittlement energies, i.e. of energy stored after crack formation. Crack propagation can then suddenly or over a time period release large amounts of energy, up to the FPH claim of 4 MJ/cm**3 in metals such as Pd and Ti or Ni. This can explain all, including the FPH melt-down (AbuTaha describes an explosive event, due to hydrogen embrittlement, observed in the early 1970’s). He clearly believes that this phenomenon can be used, but we must learn to control and optimise it. AbuT1990a AbuTaha, A. F. (1990b). Cold fusion - the heat mechanism. J. Fusion Energy, 9:345–349. Annotation: The author’s thesis is that the palladium, and not the deuterium, is the source of the "excess heat" measured by some workers. The deuterium causes strain build-up in the metal, and at some point this is released by crack formation and propagation, which also generates sufficient heat to explain all. As in simple metal tensile tests, in which crack formation causes a rise in temperature, this effect can account for the heat observed by FPH. The effect cannot be used to generate power. Acke2006 Ackerman, E. (2006). Indicators of failed information epidemics in the scientific journal literature: a publication analysis of polywater and cold nuclear fusion. Scientometrics, 66:451–466. Annotation: A literature review by the author found some signs of a failed phenomenon and they were applied to both the polywater affair (1962-1974) and cold fusion (1989-), both considered failed epidemics. For the latter, the Britz files were used as data. The study showed that some characteristic signs were present in both affairs: presence of seminal papers, rapid growth and decline in author frequency, multidisciplinary work and epidemic growth and decline in journal publication frequency. A further indicator, predominance of rapid publication, might apply, while the sixth sign, increasingly multi-authorship, did not apply to these two affairs. See also the paper by the same author, ibid 63 (2005) 189, on polywater itself (a "peripheral") Adac1992 Adachi, G.; Sakaguchi, H.; Nagao, K. (1992). (3)He and (4)He from D2 absorbed in LaNi5. J. Alloys Comp., 181:469–476. Annotation: One of the branches of the d-d fusion reaction leads to the formation of 3He, and this should be possible to detect if allowed to accumulate in a closed system. Mass spectrometry was used here to do this, from deuterium absorbed in LaNi5 alloy. The alloy (52.2 g) was carefully degassed at 1123 K and 1.3E-03 Pa for half a day. 99.5% pure D2 at 7.9E05 Pa pressure was then admitted and the temperature cycled between 363 and 273 K to ensure absorption. After this, two experiments were run for 40 days and 28 days, respectively, cycling the temperature. Samples of the initial gas were also taken as background. Finally, the alloy was degassed again to obtain absorbed gases. In the MS measurements, the ratios of (3)He to (4)He, as well as to the impurity gases Ne, Ar Kr and Xe were measured as checks. Both in these ratios and the absolute amounts of (3)He found, there was a clear increase in (3)He, not explicable in terms of contamination from the air. The amount corresponds to a fusion rate of about 1.3/s, which is roughly equal to 1E-23 fusions/dd- pair/s. The possibility that this helium came from tritium contamination in the deuterium gas was not tested, however. Adle1990 Adler, P. N.; Schulte, R. L.; Margolin, H. (1990). Deuterium surface segregation in titanium alloys. Metall. Trans., 21A:2003–2007. Annotation: Deuterium enrichment in the near-surface region, kinetics of segregation, and factors con- tributing to it, are discussed. Nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) showed that there is in fact spotwise enrich- ment (segregation) at the surface of alpha-phase TiD but not in beta-phase ditto. Some of the deuterium may be trapped at surface defects without deuteride formation. Afon2006 Afonichev, D. D. (2006). Mechanism of cold fusion via tritium channel. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 31:551–553. Annotation: The author proposes that the tritium channel is the predominant fusion reaction in cold January 17, 2017 2 fusion. The reaction, he writes, occurs only within a thin layer of metal, and a non-steady-state of the system is necessary for the reaction to take place. It is accompanied by radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation. Some of the proposals have been made in earlier papers by the author. Afon2003 Afonichev, D. D.; Murzinova, M. A. (2003). Indicator of the process of cold fusion. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 28:1005–1010. Annotation: Ti alloyed with Al, Mo, Zr and Si was loaded with D2 gas, and neutrons measured, as well as tritium. Electromagnetic radiation was found to be emitted, probably from surface layers, as the samples were deformed mechanically to possibly induce cold fusion. Tritium, uniformly distributed through the material was found, exceeding by 50% the ambient levels. The authors suggest that cold fusion took place via the normal tritium branch and that radio emissions may have led other workers to believe they had detected neutrons, which were not found in this study. Agel2000 Agelao, G.; Romano, M. C.; Italiano, F. (2000). Heat and helium production during exothermic reactions between gases through palladium geometrical elements loaded with hydrogen. Fusion Technol., 38:224– 237. Annotation: This team of nuclear engineers and a geochemist exposed Pd to hydrogen and deuterium gas, and monitored for temperature changes, helium, and particles using photographic film. They used rolled or folded Pd foil. They believe that surface reactions are the key, in which energetic hydrogen atoms are given off and collide with others from other, opposite, surfaces (this in fact contradicts the hypothesis of somehow different fusion in the metal bulk, as here, the fusion would have to be conventional and thus result in all the usual nuclear signatures). Heat was either simply observed to evolve, or helped along by external heating. Helium was measured by quadrupole MS. Of 100 runs, all produced heat, whether using hydrogen or deuterium. Films showed some radiation tracks. Helium was detected, especially in the rolled foils, where there was a lot of opposing surface for mutual bombardment. Aiel1990 Aiello, S.; E, Filippo. De; Lanzano, G.; S, Nigro. Lo; Pagano, A. (1990). Nuclear fusion experiment in palladium charged by deuterium gas. Fusion Technol., 18:115–119. Annotation: The team performed an experiment similar to that of the De Ninno team, with palladium instead of titanium under pressurised D2 with various temperature cycling programs. An NE-213 detector measured neutrons with gamma discrimination, a BaF2 detector measured gamma emission and charged particles were measured by a silicon surface barrier detector. Nothing significant was found. The authors state, however, that the expected cold fusion rate of about 1E-23 fusions/s/pair would give signals well below their apparatus’ ability to detect them.