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Matthew Boraas
Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute
University of Missouri - Columbia
Advisor: Sudarshan Loyalka
Abstract
The project was an exploratory summer project directed at measurement of possible fusion generated energy in a Pd-nano particle system when loaded with Deutrium. We generated Pd nanoparticles using a spark generator and designed a system for their deposition on a thermocouple probe in a D2 environment. An example of the desired particle deposition can be seen in the figure below. In this image, the long, cylindrical rod with a tapered tip is the thermocouple probe. The stained black color near the tip of the probe is due to the collection of palladium-deuterium nanoparticles. At the end of the probe are dendrites that extend off of it and into the surrounding gas. These were created when passing palladium-deuterium nanoparticles attached to pre-existing nanoparticles at a particular deposition site. Future plans include Calorimetric measurements of possible fusion heat generation in the deposits under various amounts of D2 loading and particle sizes and loadings.
Matthew Boraas, Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute (NSEI) , University of Missouri - Columbia. Mathew Borass is currently an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Minnesota Stae University, Mankato, Minnesota. He was a summer intern at University of Missouri in Summer 2010, and worked with several faculty members and graduate students on this project. He will be continuing with his graduate studies in Nuclear Engineering in NSEI upon graduation in May 2011. |
