Search for energetic-charged-particle emission from deuterated Ti and Pd foils

Searching for evidence of ‘‘cold’’ nuclear fusion in deuterium-loaded Ti and Pd foils with plastic track detectors, we detected the emission of α particles from trace-heavy-element decay, but found no evidence of dd fusion. Cycling ${\mathrm{TiD}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{PdD}}_{>0.4\mathrm{}}$, in high-pressure ${\mathrm{D}}_2$ cells between 1 and 15 bars and 77 and 300 K, gave an upper bound of 0.7 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}3}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{-}1}$ for the mean rate of dd${\to }^3$He+n fusion. For electrolytically deuterated ${\mathrm{PdD}}_{0.8}$ our upper bound is 0.0018 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}3}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{-}1}$ for the mean rate of dd→p+t. This is ∼1.5×${10}^6$ and 180 times lower than ‘‘cold’’-fusion rates reported by Fleischmann, Pons, and Hawkins and Jones et al., respectively.