From: MEDB@cc.newcastle.edu.au (Dieter Britz)
Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion
Subject: CNF bibliography update (total of 722 papers, 107 patents/appl.).
Date: 28 Jul 92 13:27:10 GMT
Reply-To: Dieter Britz <MEDB@cc.newcastle.edu.au>
Organization: Sci.physics.fusion/Mail Gateway


Hello all,
another mini-load from Down-Under, but you'll agree it's a good one. The "but"
refers not to Down-Under but to mini. Nothing wrong with Australia, OK? OK.
You can tell from the abstracts' lengths that I was interested - or maybe that
I understood what it was about... take your pick.

We finally have an expert looking at the FPALH-92 paper, something I have long
wished for. Groenlund, a physical chemist from Copenhagen re-analysed the
data, and arrives at somewhat different conclusions. He is careful not to
rubbish FPALH but he does say that the actual errors are not knowable from the
published data. The excess heat he calculates is maximum 5% of input power...
and a lot of people reckon that's about the error for that sort of
calorimetry. But the no-heat hypothesis is contradicted by the very smooth fit
of excess heat vs. input power, an exponential relation; one cannot easily
imagine an error behaving like that. So the paper reduces FPALH in size,
allows you to think of it as experimental error, or not - but does not
demolish it.

Prati et al believe they have demolished Scaramuzzi-type cold fusion; they
reckon that the Ti would not have absorbed any deuterium under those
conditions, and when it did for them, no neutrons were detected. Another
quality negative. Lastly, Riley et al (that's Andrew Riley, who died in the
SRI explosion) show how to monitor deuterium loading in situ, by gas
volumetry, within about 5%. Very careful work, and although it does not
mention cold fusion or F&P, it is clearly motivated by cold fusion and I
include it in the main group.

 Lastly (again, but a different lastly), a sort of magazine report from
Australia, in anticipation of restrained fireworks at Nagoya later this year.
I am a bit puzzled why he should have chosen Wada's set-up as the only Figure,
but he did.
                                                                        Dieter
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                     COLD NUCLEAR FUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                           Addition 28-Jul-1992
                   Dieter Britz alias britz@kemi.aau.dk
                           Total in Section 2: 722

Papers    files cnf-pap1..5
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Groenlund F;                                   J. Thermal Anal. 38 (1992) 229.
"Electrolysis in calorimetry".
** This paper takes a critical look at the paper of Fleischmann et al 1992 or
FPALH-92. Instead of the empirical and hard-to-follow method of analysis used
by FPALH, Groenlund starts from basics, not unlike Balej and Divisek. Only
known thermodynamic relations and reactions are considered. Input power, heat
flow out of the cell, enthalpy of electrolysis and of water evaporation (in
the saturation of evolved gases) are all known and can be related. The numbers
from the grand Table in FPALH are used; the only missing variable, cell
temperature, is calculated indirectly. The calculated excess heats are about
an order of magnitude smaller than those given by FPALH, i.e. 0-5% of input
power. There is a linear, rather than power-, relation between excess heat and
current, and an exponential one with -Ea/RT (Ea = activation energy). The heat
bursts of FPALH remain unexplained but no evidence exists for an anomalous
effect for their origin. Conclusions are: At low current densities, the
present analysis agrees with FPALH, i.e. FPALH's method agrees with the
thermodynamic approach; at higher cd's, FPALH's values are too high by an
order of magnitude and may be due to error; the apparent large accumulation of
excess energy could be due to small rates of recombination, despite FPALH's
insistence that no recombination occurred.                            ?/Jan-92
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Prati P, Ricco G, Taiuti M, Boragno C, Eggenhoffner R, Valbusa U;
Nuovo Cimento A 105 (1992) 293.
"Search for neutron emission from titanium-deuterium systems".
** This team designed a new type of multiparameter, high-efficiency neutron
detector, recognising that this is required for cold fusion experiments. The
aim was to verify the results of Scaramuzzi et al, for high D loadings in Ti.
Three coaxial scintillator shells were used, 20 cm long and about 5 cm thick.
The inner shell was filled with NE213 liquid and the two outer ones are
plastic NE102A.  Cd sheets between the shells capture neutrons thermalised
within the detector. An anticoincidence cosmic ray detector was placed over
the setup and the whole surrounded by a paraffin (20 cm) and Cu (2 cm) and
Pb (10 cm) wall. A 30 cm**3 sample could be placed in the centre of all this.
A pulse shape discriminator separated gamma events from neutrons. Detection
efficiency at 2.45 MeV was calibrated at 12.5 %. Ti shavings were exposed to
D2 gas under pressure; when the Ti was not heated in vacuum, no D2 was
absorbed and the neutron count was the same as the background; the same was
obtained with Ti powder. When the powder was heated in vacuum at 560 C for
about 7 h, and then exposed to 16 atm of D2 gas, it did absorb it and the
temp. went up to 600 C; still no neutrons were detected. This loaded Ti was
then subjected to several thermal cycles between liquid N2 and room
temperature, and at no time was there any neutron emission above background.
The authors conclude that the Scaramuzzi-type experiment is not suitable,
because no D2 is absorbed.                                       Oct-91/Feb-92
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Riley AM, Seader JD, Pershing DW;        J. Electrochem. Soc. 139 (1992) 1342.
"An in-situ volumetric method for dynamically measuring the absorption of
deuterium in palladium during electrolysis".
** This team refined the method used by Divisek et al, i.e. they measured the
deuterium loading in real time by the deuterium volume lost. The paper
thoroughly reviews a large number of other methods for loading monitoring. A
thermostated cold fusion electrolysis cell is attached to a pair of gas
burettes (not thermostatted but room temperature was controlled to some
extent). Pressure in the sealed cell was kept at 1 atm by adjusting the
burette levels. The cell was initially cleared of air by evacuating and
refilling with deuterium, repeating once. A catalytic recombiner in the cell
removed all the oxygen and a stoichiometric amount of deuterium with it, which
registered in the gas burette as a loss. Electrolytes were 0.1 M LiOD as well
as an acid solution made by acidifying that solution to a pH of 1.7 by
addition of D2SO4. Control experiments were carried out, and gave small
signals, setting the measurement error.
 Results showed loadings generally of 0.75-0.8. At current density above about
30-60 mA/cm**2, loading rate was constant, being controlled by the diffusion
within the Pd; at lower current densities, loading is slowed down. From these
results, the diffusion coefficient of deuterium in the deuteride could be
determined, and was 1.7E-11 m**2/s, in good agreement with the literature
(Lewis, 1.6E-11). In a few experiments, loading levels of about unity were
achieved; it was not possible to identify the factors leading to this. The
conclusion is that gas volumetry is a good method of monitoring the loading
within about 5% accuracy and is useful for closed-system calorimetry.
                                                                 Mar-91/May-92
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Comment: file cnf-cmnt
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Grad P;                        Engineers Australia 64(14) (1992) 24-Jul, p.18.
"Cold fusion still controversial".
** Triggered by the upcoming cold fusion conference in Nagoya in October, this
report sums up the field. Grad believes that the conference will be a more
sober affair than the previous conferences, and many participants, he thinks,
will avoid the term "cold fusion" altogether. While Huizenga is quoted against
the phenomenon, Grad writes that too much evidence now points to some real
nuclear effect, and lately experimenters have achieved some degree of
reproducibility, he believes. He quotes a recent statement by Wada, as well as
describing his original experiment, which is shown in a figure. Takahashi is
also quoted, claiming excess heat, neutrons and tritium. Tritium has also been
found by Dr. Will, at 50 times the background, but Will regrets the lack of
solid evidence for excess heat. Hagelstein's theory is mentioned.
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Dieter Britz alias medb@cc.newcastle.edu.au, until further notice. Mailing
address: Mech. Eng., Newcastle University, NSW 2308, Australia.
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Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion