A Method for Producing Fine-Grained Ice from Snow by Compaction

Abstract

This report describes a preliminary study of the fabrication of building blocks by converting snow directly to ice without the very high energy cost of melting it first. This was accomplished by a hot sinter technique that produced a very fine-grained material that is considerably stronger than natural ice. The very high pressures applied to the snow appear not only to have reduced the grain size present in the raw material (natural snow), but to have completed the sintering process before the block was removed from its form, as there was no convincing increase in strength at any storage temperature over a period of 20 days, nor were there any striking crystallographic changes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA399588

Entities

People

  • Deborah Diemand
  • Velery Klokov

Organizations

  • Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Construction
  • Energy
  • Fabrication
  • Fine Grained Materials
  • Flexural Strength
  • Fresh Water Ice
  • Grain Size
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Of Fusion
  • High Pressure
  • Hot Pressing
  • Latent Heat
  • Materials
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Mechanical Working
  • Physical Properties
  • Snow Roads

Readers

  • Polar and Arctic Studies
  • Powder metallurgy of Titanium alloys.
  • Theoretical Analysis.