Possible Evidence of Piezonuclear Alpha Emission

Compression cycles at different loading speeds, each followed by a rapid stress release, were applied to cylindrical AISI 304 steel bars with 500 g mass, 2 cm diameter and 20 cm height. Three ZnS scintillators and a Geiger counter were placed around the samples. The emission of ionizing particles was both recorded by the Geiger and by the alpha particles counters during the compression and decompression phases. The recorded counts-rates as a function of the load are here shown and commented.