ECCO - Titanium powder form and purity

Having previously looked at the Nickel Sulphate used in the foil making process, and the Nickel powder, used in the fuel, we were impressed with their purity, so what of the other major transition metal component in the fuel mix, Titanium, how does it stack up?

Titanium is a very well known elemental hydrogen storage transition metal and it has been reported regularly to be LENR active, particularly by Russian researchers. It is no surprise then that Suhas Ralkar would consider it as a fuel component for his ECCO device.

The Titanium powder, thought to be around 80-100 um was placed on a piece of carbon tape, that was then attached to the SEM table.

Figure 1: Titanium powder on carbon tape / SEM platter, ready for analysis
The first question that springs to mind is, why is this Titanium reddish in colour?

Under the microscope

Figure 2: Titanium powder grains were typically between 100 and 400 micons
The actual size of the particles was between 100 to 400 microns, far outside the 80-100um quoted. There was a very small proportion of the bulk mass that were smaller particles but hardly worth considering. What is going on when a supplier is quoting particle sizes so far removed from the actual size of the supplied material.

Their appearance is of smoothed rock fragments with the occasional fracture.

Elemental composition

Figure 3: EDX data shows essentially the Titanium Oxide surface with maybe a little carbon from the carbon tape background
Titanium passivates in air like Aluminium, immediately forming an oxide layer, Wikipedia adds more detail:

When it first forms, this protective layer is only 1–2 nm thick but continues to grow slowly; reaching a thickness of 25 nm in four years.

So, if you don't want to have oxygen in your fuel, it is important to know how old your powder is and have some method for reducing it.

There was three other elements indicated in the sampling, two of them, Iron and Aluminium were out of range on the sensitivity of the EDX, however, Silicon was detected with sufficient strength to add into the table of detected elements. This deserved further investigation, more so, because if you looked at the above SEM backscatter image (the one on the right), there appeared to be small particles that were very bright, and this indicates a heavier or more noble element and so we decided to go into a grain sporting these flecks to see in more detail what they were.

Figure 4: A close up look at the flecks appearing as bright specks in the backscatter SEM image on the surface of the Titanium

Spectrum 29 taken as a control was essentially Titanium Dioxide/Titanium, however, spectrum 30 of a 'bright fleck' was more interesting.

Figure 5: EDX of a bright backscatter fleck revealed a range of other elements
The EDX of the bright fleck contained Lead, Titanium, Tin, Copper, Sulphur, Carbon and Silicon.

Discussion

The bulk of the material here was likely Titanium with an oxide layer, however, the size of the particles were not as specified. More concerning is that there is clearly contamination. When we previously analysed part processed fuel, we found that it was predominently Titanium, Lead and Zirconium, Tin was sometimes detected but below error threshold.

There was some speculation that some PZT from ultrasonic transducers had contaminated the part processed fuel we previously tested, however, we are not seeing the Zirconium in the Titanium contamination above and we are seeing copper which was not present in the part processed fuel. Also, there was Niobium in the part processed fuel which is not in the Titanium. So was a different source of Titanium used for that fuel and/or was it exposed to other contamination in preparation.

Whatever the cause of the contamination, lead oxides can be yellow and red and perhaps the colour of this Titanium as shown in the photograph at the top of this article, is due to some combination of a very fine and thin layer of lead oxides, perhaps just a few molecules as if left by liquid - what do you think is going on?

Conclusion

The Titanium sample supplied by Suhas Ralkar has some contamination, however, it does not account for the elements and their relative quantities found in previously analysed part processed fuel. It remains to be determined if this is due to the supplier, or is a result of some other source/handling procedure during the chain of custody from supplier to our testing. If, indeed Suhas Ralkar's ECCO device delivers excess heat, could it be due to this minor addition of contaminant elements, or in spite of it?

As an aside, Titanium is produced and sold for many uses as a non-toxic whitener in the form of Titanium Dioxide including for sunscreens, cosmetics, toothpaste, pill filler etc. It is concerning that this product contains toxic tin and lead and if it is processed into Titanium Dioxide for topical skin application or oral consumption, then there could be serious health issues associated with its use, if this is as it comes from the supplier, they need to be notified.

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