Just because Rossi knows of SiC tubes, doesn't mean that is what the hotCat was made from. AFAIK, there are no usable ductile forms of SiC. I see articles about diamond machining of SiC in the "ductile regime", but this doesn't mean that the ceramic tube behaves as a ductile tube would under expansive pressure.
Nothing you said explains why Penon would have identified a SiC tube as painted stainless steel. Nor did you say how a SiC tube would be used to make a hotCat reactor. I can't imagine that SiC composite with carbon fiber would be a long term leak-proof ceramic to hydrogen. It would also be terrible to form a high temperature hermetic seal whilst the hydride was inside. Rossi might try SiC for a hotCat now or in the future (I think unlikely), but that is not what is shown in the Penon report. Rossi is a master of deceptive leads, and his story about SiC might be just that - not to say it was a lie, because he never said the hotCat reactor was made with SiC. On Sun, Jan 26, 2014 at 2:08 PM, Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote: > These are not simply SiC tubes. A quick google search for ductile SiC > turns up many hits. > > > > As I recall, Rossi was relating the story of how he and Focardi got these > tubes serendipitously when visiting a Lab run by the ENEA. They are/were > used for plumbing in the liquid fuel reactor R&D and are machinable (with > difficulty). The program was abandoned and they essentially “borrowed” the > tubes. > > > > In fact, it did not occur to me until now but these tubes are probably > made with carbon fiber which could play a role in the LENR reaction. > > > > BTW – Rossi was not relating this as an idle story. It was part of his > tribute to Focardi – Rossi was intending to show by anecdote how the high > level connections of Focardi within ENEA, where he was greatly respected - > were critical to the success they had. > > > > *From:* Bob Higgins > > > > Jones, > > > > SiC is a brittle super-hard ceramic and I don't believe Penon could have > mistaken a SiC carbide tube for stainless > > >
