Such fractal growth as seen coming from the metal is seen in other circumstances of crystal growth on a surface, for example ice crystal growth on a cold plate in humidity. I think it is possible that there may be a connection to the fractal wood burning patterns that Nick suggests. The black sticky tape used for sample mounting is electrically conductive, but not nearly as conductive as most metals - it is a more distributed conductivity (sort of like the wood). The sticky tape just needs to prevent charge build-up on the sample from an electron beam current flow of less than 1 mA. The metal tracks could be an electrically driven crystal growth process. It is not clear if this crystal growth occurred in storage or due to the electrical discharge in the SEM - but for now, I am presuming the crystal tracks grew in response to the electrical current flowing from SEM analysis.
Even with possible electrical stimulation of the metal, this crystal growth out onto the black sticky tape is something I have never seen before. Something has caused a great deal of mobility of the metal particles or ions on this sample for them to be able to follow a charge path out onto the sticky tape. This could well be due to creation of nanoparticles (too small to be seen in the SEM image) on the surface of the metal in ME356's processing of his fuel wire. Perhaps these nanoparticles become mobile in the presence of the current from the SEM and follow the fractal path of conduction onto the surface of the sticky tape. The thought of ME356's wire being covered with nanoparticles due to his processing is a lot like Mizuno's description of what happens during his vacuum sputtering treatment of his wire fuel. There is only a small contrast afforded in the backscattered electron detector (BSD) in the SEM due to elemental mass. I don't see enough contrast in the images to differentiate the elements. It would be really enlightening to have available EDS in his SEM. The EDS is an x-ray spectrometer that examines the spectrum of the x-rays coming from the place where the electron beam is hitting. The electron beam excites the characteristic x-ray lines of the element and the element can be positively identified. It is perhaps the most valuable option that can be added to an SEM, but I think ME356 presently does not have this in his SEM. My guess is that the fractal crystal tracks are caused by mobile nanoparticles of the same composition as the wire. On Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 4:18 AM, Stephen Cooke <stephen_coo...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Hi Bob, Axil, Nick etc > > Over on ECW Me356 made a very interesting reply to me that I think you > might find interesting. > > I was asking about the materials in first pictures he sent but his reply > gives some interesting details: > > https://disqus.com/home/discussion/ecw/interview_with_ > me356_working_towards_commercialization/#comment-3517810748 > > Interestingly he says that brighter components are from heavier atoms and > even more interestingly that heavier are at the end of those tracks and > lighter atoms at the beginning. > > I also had some thoughts about what might cause this, I'm quite curious > what you think. > > https://disqus.com/home/discussion/ecw/interview_with_ > me356_working_towards_commercialization/#comment-3517825057 > > Just some thoughts going through my mind right now: > > I wonder if those tracks compositions are arranged like that due to some > kind of sorting of elrements in an electric or magnetic field or if they > are due to some kind of transmutation. > > If it is sorting it is strange they form tracks and that the light > elements are at the beginning and heavier elements are at the end of the > tracks I would expect the heavier ones to be deposited first. Although I > suppose the degree of ionization would also play some role. On the other > hand the tracks seem aligned to some degree which might imply some kind of > field I suppose. > > If it's transmutations that's really amazing but I suppose it could be > found if unusual elements or isotopes are present. > > I wonder if there is some kind of transmuting agent along The lines Axil > suggests or Bobs charge clusters or Some kind of dense Hydrogen if it is > initially traveling at speed then slowing down if it would have stronger > transmutation affects locally at slower speeds hence leading to heavier > atoms towards the end of the tracks. > > One strange thing I noticed is that it seems that the apparent branching > in those patterned tracks are very often at close to 90 degrees even the > smaller patterns seem to show this effect. It almost seems to me they need > to be orthogonal. Could this tell us about something about the physical > process... is it implying spinning particles or something that need to be > orthogonal to not interfere with each other or some other vector property > that has to be orthogonal ? Or could it be an artifact of stresses in the > carbon tape. > > I wonder if he was also able to look at the composition of the spikes in > the later picture. Its interesting he attached them in reply to Axil after > Axil was talking about UDH but would such material show up in these images. > On the other hand can Nickel crystals form sharp spikes like this? very > curious.i would live to see their composition. At least if conductive I > wonder if the affect the EM environment strongly especially in a glow > discharge. > > Nick's images of marks on wood look intriguing to me too it's a good > approach I think to look for analogues. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On 16 Sep 2017, at 04:50, Bob Higgins <rj.bob.higg...@gmail.com> wrote: > > The photos of ME356's fuel are fascinating. I don't know what to make of > the fractal growth on the carbon sticky tape. I would love to see an EDS > of the fractal growth. Ni crystals do tend to grow when there is > sufficient heat and in the absence of oxygen, but the Ni crystals are > normally spiky spears (as is seen in some of the photos). I can't believe > that the fractal growth is metallic hydrogen - just too far fetched Axil. > > I can speculate about what ME356 does to prepare his fuel. Here are a few > thoughts: > > - The fuel is Ni or Ni alloy wire wound into a coil shape that will > fit into a reactor tube. > > > - From what we have seen, it doesn't seem like ME356's reactor runs a > current through this coil - it is possible, but it is risks short term > burnout limiting the life of the reactor. My guess is that it is just a > coiled up wire fuel inside of a fused silica or ceramic tube that contains > the fuel coil and H2 gas. > > > - ME356 talks of pre-treating his fuel. He says that the longer he > pre-treats the fuel the more active it is in producing LENR. I think the > pre-treatment consists of putting the Ni coil inside a vacuum chamber, that > has been evacuated to less than 1 micron. The wire is heated and cooled > until it stops outgassing. Then the chamber is filled with about 10 torr > of H2, the wire is heated, and the wire or an adjacent Ni electrode is > driven with RF at one of the ISM band frequencies. This will provide some > sputter-like activation of the surface. > > > - After the hot sputter processing, take the coil out and put it into > the reactor tube and heat in H2 for LENR. > > > >
