Ultrasonic Cavitation
and Piezonuclear Reactions
Cardone Fabio1, Cherubini Giovanni3, Mignani Roberto2, 4, Perconti Walter5,
Pessa Eliano6, Petrucci Andrea1, 4, Rosetto Francesca3, Spera Guido7
per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (ISMN — CNR)
Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica “F.Severi”
3ARPA Radiation Laboratories
4Dipartimento di Fisica “E.Amaldi” , Università degli Studi “Roma Tre”
5Climate and Applied Meteorology, ISPRA,
6Centro Interdipartimentale di Scienze Cognitive, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
7CRA - IS.Pa.Ve., Chemical Section
1Istituto
2GNFM,
SOPO2012
8th International Symposium on Cavitation
Singapore, 13th - 16th August 2012
Piezonuclear Reactions:
Nuclear Reactions induced by Pressure
Pressure suitably exerted on medium or heavy weight stable
nuclides generates nuclear reactions of new type with clear and
reproducible emission of neutrons.
What does pressure suitably excerted mean?
Piezonuclear Reactions and Deformed Special Relativity
• Piezonuclear Reactions are predicted by the phenomenological theory called
Deformed Special Relativity (DSR) (F. Cardone, R. Mignani)
•
1
• DSR states that piezonuclear reactions are triggered if in a experiment involving
- medium or heavy weight stable nuclides
one succeeds in concentrating
- an amount of energy E greater than 367.5 GeV
- in a microscopical region of space V smaller than a threshold volume V0
- and in an interval of time t shorter than a threshold interval t0
How do we translate
these conditions
Concentrate E > 367.5 GeV
in a microscopical space V < V0
in an interval of time t < t0
Compressing
mechanism
A compressing mechanism is needed
capable of
concentrating and hence amplifying
(E > 367.5 GeV) energy density
by squeezing heavy or medium weight
stable nuclides
into a decreasing volume (V < V0)
Catastrophic collapse
followed by
a sudden, quick and catastrophic mechanism
capable of a further compression
that releases instantaneously (t < t0)
the loaded energy onto the entrapped nuclides
into experiment ?
Cavitation as source of compression and
catastrophic collapse
• If pressure excerted on a liquid falls below the liquid vapour pressure,
vapour bubbles form, conversely a rapid increase of pressure brings
about a violent collapse of these bubbles.
• These phenomena are known to pit metals and are source of
corrosion.
• The pitted surface of metals indicates that the collapse of bubbles
induced by a sudden increase of pressure manages to concentrate in
small volumes a great amount of energy, i.e. to create particularly
high energy density conditions.
Ultrasonic Cavitation
experiments
and their piezonuclear
evidences
First set of experiments (1999)
Cavitation of water - concentrations of elements
Could cavitation of water change the concentration of the chemical elements contained in it?
• liquid: 100 ml bidistilled deionised H2O in optical flint glass
• ultrasound device: with cooled transducers and sonotrode and stepped shaped
titanium horn
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 630 W
• time: 210 minutes
• analyses of the concentration of elements (Z= 1 to 92) in water before and after
cavitation by
• mass atomic absorption
• cyclotron spectrometry (ICR-ion cyclotron resonance)
• mass spectrometry
• analyses of the vacuum chamber of these instruments
• analyses of possible contributions to concentration changes due to impurities
• from sonotrode tip, flint glass, dry residue of water samples
Comparison of concentrations before and after cavitation
decrease of light elements and increase of heavy ones,
uranium in particular
Second set of experiments (2001)
Cavitation of water - concentrations of heavy elements
Could cavitation bring about variations of the concentration of chemical elements contained in it?
• liquid: 30 ml bidistilled deionised H2O in pyrex vessel
• ultrasound device: not cooled transducers and stepped shaped aluminium horn
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 300 W
• time: 4 intervals of 10 munites of cavitation with cooling intervals of 15 minutes
between any two of them
• analyses of the concentration of elements (A= 210 to 270 amu) in water before (blank)
and after cavitation plus analyses of the background (content of the vacuum chamber)
Comparison of concentrations before and after cavitation
Increase in the mass range 210 - 238
Increase and then decrease in the mass range 238 - 270 (radionuclides)
Third set of experiments (2002)
Cavitation of water - concentrations of radionuclides
Search for artificial radionuclides
• liquid: 300 ml of bidistilled deionised H2O in pyrex beaker
• ultrasound device: not cooled transducers and stepped shaped aluminium horn
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 100 W
• time: intervals of 15 munites of cavitation followed by cooling intervals of 15
minutes
• analyses of the concentration of elements (90 to 150 and 200 to 255 amu) in water
before (blank), after and during cavitation by
• peristaltic pump that sucked water into an
• Inducted Coupled Plasma (ICP) Mass Spectrometer (MS) (9000 °C)
• analyses of noise (vacuum chamber)
• analyses scanning times: 10 sec and 150 sec
Analysis of the concentrations during cavitation
the ICP-MS identified a mass of 137.93 amu
whose concentration cycled: appearance, increase, decrease, disappearance.
Interpeted as a radionuclide with t1/2=12s
Europium 138
From:
cavitation of bidistilled deionised water
and
search for changes of concentration
To:
Cavitation of solutions of elements
and
search for neutrons
Fourth set of experiments (2005)
Cavitation of solutions - neutron search - bubble detectors
Does the variation of concentration of elements in cavitation mean also emission of neutrons and
gamma rays ?
• liquid: 250 - 500 ml of 1 ppm solutions of Lithium, Aluminium, Iron (LiCl, AlCl3,
FeCl3, Fe(NO)3) in bidistilled deionised H2O in bottles of Schott Duran Glass
• ultrasound device: modified ultrasonic plastic welder with transducers and
sonotrode cooled by cold compressed air and a steel conical frustum as horn
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 100 W
• time: 90 minutes of continuous cavitation
Neutrons only from Iron solutions
after 40 minutes - no gamma rays
Fifth set of experiments (2006)
Cavitation of solutions - neutron search - bubble detectors
Does the variation of concentration of elements in cavitation mean also emission of neutrons and
gamma?
• liquid: 250 ml of 1 ppm, 10 ppm solutions of Iron (FeCl3, Fe(NO)3) in bidistilled
deionised H2O in bottles of Schott Duran Glass
• ultrasound device: modified ultrasonic plastic welder with transducers and
sonotrode cooled by cold compressed air and a steel conical frustum as horn
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 100 W and 130 W
• time: 90 minutes of continuous cavitation
Different neutron doses and
dose rates for
different concentrations of iron
and different ultrasound powers
no gamma rays
Concentration
Different neutron doses and
dose rates
for different concentrations
and different ultrasound
powers
10 ppm
Graph of graphs
In each single graph there
is time on the horizontal
axis and neutron dose (nSv)
on the vertical axis.
On the compound graph
we have amplitude or
power on the horizontal
axis and concentration on
the vertical axis.
1 ppm
0 ppm
50 %
70 %
Amplitude
100 Watt
130 Watt
Power
0.54 MJoule
0.70 MJoule
Energy
Fifth set of experiments (2006)
Cavitation of solutions - neutron search - track detectors
• liquid: 250 ml of 10 ppm solutions of Iron (FeCl3) in bidistilled deionised H2O in
bottles of Schott Duran Glass
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 130 W
• time: 90 minutes of continuous cavitation
CR39 detectors
and bubble detectors
CR39 detectors
Neutron tracks from
nuclear reactor and from cavitation of iron solution
Sixth set of experiments (2007)
Cavitation of solutions - neutron search - BF3
• liquid: 250 ml of 1000 ppm solutions of Iron (FeCl3) in bidistilled deionised H2O in
bottles of Schott Duran Glass
• frequency and power:
20 kHz 113 W
• time: 90 minutes of continuous cavitation plus 90 with ultrasound off
Bursts of neutrons
detected by the Boron Trifluoride
detector
Burst of neutrons emitted by
the solution of iron during
cavitation
Time coincidence of bursts of
neutrons registered by BF3
and bubble detector
From liquids to solids
•
•
Cavitation is the experimental mean in
order to bring about piezonuclear
reactions
During bubble collapse iron atoms,
entrapped in the liquid/vapour (gas)
interface, get accelerated towards each
other
•
Basic requirements: the
presence of micro-cavities
(bubbles) that transform
an ultrasonic wave into a
shock wave and presence
of iron
Solids, like iron-rich rocks or cast iron, do contain micro-cavities as well
Could we imagine that the same processes that happen during cavitation of liquids, as we
have seen so far, might take place if we compressed solids?
Experimental evidences
Compression by ultrasounds
of iron-rich rocks (Granite, Basalt) or
of steel bars (that contain micro-cavities)
produce cavitation that generates piezonuclear reactions
with emissions of
bursts of neutrons, transmutations and emission of alpha particles
without any gamma rays
Conclusions and remarks
• It exists cavitation and it exists Nuclear Cavitation
• E > 367.5 GeV , V < V0 , t < t0
• crucial dimensions and crucial reciprocal position of the sonotrode and the
cavitation chamber (no ultrasonic cleaners)
• no emission of neutrons before 40 minutes (unless you use solids)
• THESE neutrons are difficult to be measured
• anisotropic bursts are very hard to be detected (by active detectors above all)
• bubble detectors like the ones we used (called DEFENDERS) are no more
available from BTI and the available ones called (BD) are not sensitive enough
for neutron emission from liquids, but they are good for neutron emisson from
solids
• alpha emissions are easier to be detected
• but not in liquids because alpha particles cannot escape from the cavitation
chamber
• solids have to be used
Thank you very much
for your attention!
Cavitation as source of compression and
catastrophic collapse
•
•
•
If pressure excerted on a liquid falls below the liquid vapour pressure, vapour bubbles form,
conversely a rapid increase of pressure brings about a violent collapse of these bubbles.
These phenomena are known to pit metals and are source of corrosion.
The pitted surface of metals indicated that the collapse of bubbles induced by a sudden increase of
pressure managed to concentrate in small volumes a great amount of energy, i.e. to create
particularly high energy density conditions.
WARNING: Piezonuclear reactions are NOT Sonofusion
•
•
Sonofusion
theory: sonofusion is thermonuclear fusion in a tiny
•
•
region of space inside the collapsing bubble. Coulomb
barrier is to be overcome
•
phenomenology: sonofusion treats the walls of the
fusion nor with fission. They are based on the concept of
Local Lorentz Invariance breakdown space-time
deformation. No Coulomb barrier
•
bubble as a impermeable membrane.The bubble is a
piston. Nuclear fuel is contained in the bubble
•
experiment:
sonofusion is aimed at producing
deuterium-deuterium fusion,
Piezonuclear reactions
theory: Piezonuclear reactions have neither to do with
phenomenology: the walls of the bubble are treated
as a completely permeable membrane through which the
content of the bubble can escape during collapse. Nuclear
fuel is trapped in the wall of the bubble that behaves like
an accelerator of heavy ions that are forcibly pushed
against each other
•
experiment: The fuel of these reactions are basically
all stable nuclides and in particular those whose binding
energy per nucleon is, in absolute value, as close as
possible to the maximum.
Further evidences from solids - ultrasound
Cylindrical Bars: 20 cm high, 2 cm of diameter
19 Watt transferred into the bar
1 hour of application of ultrasound
Further evidences from solids
continuous compression
Compression by a servo-controlled press
of specimens of granite and marble up
brittle fracture
• 367.5 GeV is enormous from a microscopical point of view and still very big
from a macroscopical one because of the Avogadro constant
• 100 J/s  6·1020 eV/s  6·1020 / NA  1·10-3 eV/s·atom
• 367.5 GeV easily reachable by adding the mass energy of the nuclides
8 atoms of Iron
56 * 8 = 448
448 * 0. 938 GeV = 420 GeV > 367,5 GeV.
With 7 atoms one gets 367.7 GeV