Experiments with Heat Cycling of Palladium and Titanium Hydrides

Previous experiments exploring the properties and behavior of deuterated palladium and titanium experiencing heat cycling and under local optical excitation in deuterium atmospheres have reported the unexpected emergence of nuclear products, specifically gamma rays and neutrons. While morphological and phase changes of deuterated hydrides have been studied extensively due to the remarkable effects of hydrogen on metal lattices, nuclear products from these deuterated metals are not predicted. We investigate the sample preparation of Pd and Ti hydrides with the aim of finding an initiation mechanism for the emergence of these nuclear products from this relatively simple experiment. We submerged Pd and Ti wires deuterium while cycling current through the wires, heat cycling them to around 850 degrees Kelvin, sometimes while simultaneously exposing them to optical stimulation from an NKT supercontinuum laser. During and after several cycles of heating and cooling, Ti wires become brittle and eventually sever along fault lines, while Pd wires flow towards a spherical shape. We report on our methods and findings and recommend further investigation to explain the phenomena associated with these anomalous nuclear products.