materialsscienceandengineering: Graphene composite may keep...

materialsscienceandengineering:

Graphene composite may keep wings ice-free

Conductive material heats surfaces, simplifies ice removal

A thin coating of graphene nanoribbons in epoxy developed at Rice University has proven effective at melting ice on a helicopter blade.

The coating by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour may be an effective real-time de-icer for aircraft, wind turbines, transmission lines and other surfaces exposed to winter weather, according to a new paper in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

In tests, the lab melted centimeter-thick ice from a static helicopter rotor blade in a minus-4-degree Fahrenheit environment. When a small voltage was applied, the coating delivered electrothermal heat – called Joule heating – to the surface, which melted the ice.

The nanoribbons produced commercially by unzipping nanotubes, a process also invented at Rice, are highly conductive. Rather than trying to produce large sheets of expensive graphene, the lab determined years ago that nanoribbons in composites would interconnect and conduct electricity across the material with much lower loadings than traditionally needed.

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Let’s fly through all the blizzards!

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materialsscienceandengineering: World’s Longest Ice Bridge...

materialsscienceandengineering:

World’s Longest Ice Bridge Inspired by Da Vinci Sketch

Between December 28 and February 13, a team of students and volunteers will join forces in Finland to build the world’s longest ice bridge — 213 feet long and 16 feet wide — that’s strong enough to hold a two-ton car.

Adding an artistic twist, the team plans to design the bridge based on a 1502 sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci. The sketch is of a bridge once planned to go over the Bosporus, a natural strait and waterway in northwestern Turkey. But it was never built.

World-Record Bridges, Tunnels Defy All Logic

The international project, which is lead by Eindhoven University of Technology, is the third of its kind. In the past, students set out to build the world’s largest ice-domes, as well as the world’s highest ice-domes.

This will not only be a test of teamwork and perseverance, but also a race against time. Stopping the work at any time will cause the equipment to freeze, thanks to the incredibly low temperatures. Workers have committed to shifts so that the ice construction is continually progressing, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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This is crazy.

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materialsscienceandengineering: Toward roads that de-ice...

materialsscienceandengineering:

Toward roads that de-ice themselves

As winter approaches, stores, cities and homeowners are stocking up on salt, gravel and sand in anticipation of slippery roads. But this annual ritual in colder climates could soon become unnecessary. Researchers report in ACS’ journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research a new road material that could de-ice itself.

Every winter, when weather forecasters predict snow or icy conditions, local governments deploy trucks that dust roads with salt, sand or other chemical mixtures to help prevent ice build-up. Residents break out their own supply to keep their walkways and driveways from freezing over and becoming dangerously slick. But the de-icer doesn’t stay on the streets for long. Melting snow and vehicles driving by wash or force it off, making re-application necessary. To break this cycle, Seda Kizilel and colleagues wanted to see if they could devise a way to ice-proof the road itself.

The researchers started with the salt potassium formate and combined it with the polymer styrene-butadiene-styrene. They added this mixture to bitumen, a major component of asphalt. The resulting material was just as sturdy as unmodified bitumen, and it significantly delayed ice formation in lab studies. The new composite released de-icing salt for two months in the lab, but the effects could last even longer when used on real roads, the researchers note. In that instance, the salt-polymer composite would be evenly embedded throughout the asphalt. Thus, as cars and trucks drive over and wear away the pavement, the salt could continually be released – potentially for years.

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Could be huge.

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materialsscienceandengineering: New surfaces delay ice...

materialsscienceandengineering:

New surfaces delay ice formation

If you’ve ever waited on an airport runway for your plane to be de-iced, had to remove all your food so the freezer could defrost, or arrived late to work because you had to scrape the sheet of ice off your car windshield, you know that ice can cause major headaches.

“People intuitively know that frost can be bad,” said Amy Betz, a professor in mechanical engineering at Kansas State University. Betz and her colleagues have created a surface that can significantly delay frost formation, even at temperatures of down to 6 degrees Celsius below freezing. The surface is biphilic, meaning it repels water in some areas and attracts it in others. The researchers describe their results in a paper in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

Previous research by other groups has focused mainly on the frost-preventing properties of superhydrophobic (ultra water-repelling) surfaces. In general, the surfaces work by repelling water droplets before they have time to freeze. There is little research, however, on surfaces that mix hydrophobic and hydrophilic areas.

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Awesome.

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laughingsquid: Breathtaking Photos of a Flipped Iceberg That...

laughingsquid:

Breathtaking Photos of a Flipped Iceberg That Looks Like a Giant Floating Gem

Ice.

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