<[email protected]> wrote: You are all making a mountain out of a molehill. Obviously the average > temperature was 400 ºC, while there were hot spots where the temperature > exceeded the melting point of Ni, as it became fused in places. >
Takahashi told me there is a form of low-temperature fusion, similar to sintering. It happens with pure Pd-black in the presence of hydrogen (or deuterium) at temperatures well below the melting point of Pd. The hydrogen plays a role. I do not recall the details . . . I think he mentioned the spillover effect as playing a role. He said that some samples of Pd-black were heated in vacuo in pre-treatment. The particles did not clump together. Later, in the experiment they heated in the presence of deuterium to lower temperatures, yet they clumped together. I think that may have happened even with samples that did not produce anomalous heat. Anyway, particles clump together differently in different circumstances, and it does not always mean they melted and fused. In this case, maybe they did and that can be confirmed in other ways, but clumping alone is not proof. - Jed
