DURIP A unified testing, evaluation, research, and development facility for ice- and snow-modulating materials.
Abstract
The buildup of ice, including glaze, rime, frost, and snow can negatively impact a range of DoD activities. For example, icing has a severe impact on the operation of a range of naval vessels and structures, such as the ship hulls, decks and equipment for ships traveling through the arctic. Additionally, icing is also a significant challenge for aircraft, UAV#s, power lines, satellite communication, and for solar arrays operating in cold environments. In other instances, it is sometimes advantageous to induce ice-accretion. For example, ice nucleators and ice strengtheners could be useful for overland vehicles operating in cold climates to build and utilize ice bridges or frozen rivers for traversing inhospitable terrain even at relatively elevated (-5ºC # 0ºC) temperatures. Over the last decade there have been significant developments within the icing research community in (i) understanding the different forms and length scales of icing, (ii) artificially replicating different environmental icing conditions in the laboratory, and (3) developing materials to combat the accretion of ice. However, even after decades of research, as yet there isn#t a standard methodology to evaluate how well ice / snow adheres to a surface. Iced surfaces can experience wide variations in temperatures, humidity, accreted ice structure, and, importantly, forces experienced for ice detachment. A wide range of tests have been developed to estimate theadhesion of ice under these differing scenarios, which has often led to contrary or confusing results. For example, previous work has shown that due to differences in terms of testing temperatures, modes of ice detachment, and cooling modes # anisotropic vs. isothermal, there can be an order of magnitude disparity in the values of ice adhesion strength reported by different groups on the samesubstrate. As part of this proposal, we aim to acquire / fabricate equipment to add on to our current ice / snow-testing facility that can evaluate different reference materials, and novel ice-modulating (increasing or decreasing ice adhesion, induction, or nucleation) materials under a wide range of environmental conditions and under different applied forces to best mimic their real-world performance. Overall, we seek to create a unique facility that can test materials across different modes of ice detachment, for different kinds / structures of ice formed over a range of environmental conditions, and over the varied length scales of ice accretion. Together, the proposed facilities will be used to address a range of fundamental scientific questions and allow us to systematically design, fabricate and characterize world leading ice-modulating materials and coatings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412309
Entities
People
- Anish Tuteja
Organizations
- Board of Regents of the University of Michigan
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy