Hi Horace, ----- Original Message ----- From: "Horace Heffner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 3:28 AM > On Aug 2, 2007, at 3:05 AM, Michel Jullian wrote: > >> >> 1/ Fill the cell container e.g. a test tube made of the right >> dielectric material (e.g. a clear plastic e.g. polycarbonate... >> e.g. CR-39 !) with the electrolyte we will be using for normal >> operation (that for PdD codeposition) > > Some polycarbonate characteristics: > > http://www.3d-cam.com/materials/polycarbonate.asp
Good resource, let me quote the most relevant data: For direct electroplating: "Electrical Resistivity 1E+14-1E+17 ohm-cm" say 1E+17 ohm-cm = 1E+15 ohm-m (highest value = worst case) For cathode electron density enhancement: "Dielectric Constant 2.9-3.2" say 3 (a typical value for plastics, 3 times that of vacuum or air) "Dielectric Strength 399-1780 kV/in" that's 15.7 to 70 kV/mm (quite good, 5 to 20 times that of air, the test tube you mention below must be at least 1mm thick so it will probably stand 25kV across its wall as projected) So the maximum surface electron density on the cathode backside will be 3x5=15 to 3*20=60 times that achievable by using air as a dielectric, very nice. > Really good thermal properties, not so good on conductivity. I seem > to recall CETI had a process for plating plastic beads, by chemically > treating the surface first, but I don't know if that could be made to > work with polycarbonates. > > I see Cole-Parmer sells some very nice polycarbonate test tubes at > $27.00 for a 10 pack. > > http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=0632932 It seems an excellent choice indeed: "Specifications: Capacity (mL)15 Dimensions 16.1 mm OD x 114.3 mm H" (cylinder of diameter 16.1mm and length 114.3-8=106.3mm terminated by half sphere of diameter 16.1mm) The above data should allow us to: 1/ Find external volume of test tube (cylinder+half sphere) 2/ Subtract capacity to find volume of polycarbonate 3/ Find area of outer surface of test tube (cylinder+half sphere) 4/ Deduce thickness t of polycarbonate (volume / area) 5/ Find electrical resistance of tube wall (from area, thickness and resistivity see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistivity ) 6/ Find leakage current at 25 kV (Ohm's law) 7/ Find how long it would take at this current to electroplate a useful thickness say one micron of PdD (Faraday's law), if too long some other way will have to be found. 8/ Find the average electron density in the cathode at 25kV polarization (parallel plate capacitor equations) 9/ Deduce the factor by which the device will enhance the natural DD fusion rate in PdD (natural = that for an electron density equal to the proton density) 10/ Deduce the resulting fusion power How shall we proceed, you do the maths and I check them? Michel
