Extensive experimental investigations were conducted on Gypsum and Quartz compression specimens of different sizes. They were brought to complete failure, showing two different failure modalities: (1) Very brittle loading drop for micro-crystalline Gypsum and Quartz; (2) Strain-softening behaviour for macro-crystalline Gypsum. All the tested specimens emitted acoustic and electromagnetic waves and the single events cumulated up to the peak load (Figs.1,2). On the other hand, neutron emissions were evident only for the largest specimens, which are more brittle than the smaller ones [1-4]. The significant chemical composition changes occurred on the fracture surfaces are consistently explainable by the assumption of Low-energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR), both fusion and fission reactions [5-7]. It is the first time that fusion reactions emerge, whereas fission reactions have already explained the results related to other materials like the iron-rich natural rocks [5]. Let us observe that, in the case of macro-crystalline Gypsum, an original correlation seems to appear between mechanical behaviour (strain-softening) and LENR modalities (multi-body fusion reactions).
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