Ice Composites Strengthened by Organic and Inorganic Nanoparticles

Abstract

Extensive development of the Arctic, rich in various natural resources, requires a lot of cheap ecologically safe construction materials preferably using local renewable sources. Ice being easily available in regions with a cold climate meets all the above criteria but has low strength, high fragility and a tendency to creep. Known strengthening techniques using macroscopic and microfiber additives have many drawbacks. This paper describes a new approach to ice strengthening by adding organic or inorganic 50–100 nm nanoparticles (NPs) to the water to be frozen and presents experimental results and possible mechanisms analysis of polycrystalline ice strengthening using NPs. Cellulose and silica NPs have been tested as typical representatives of such additives. Both are hydrophilic, ecologically safe, widespread, cheap and can be produced from local renewable raw materials. It is shown that the addition of 0.01 to 5 wt.% of NPs results in a reduction of ice composite average grain size by a factor of 5.3 ± 0.7 and an increase of its compression strength by a factor of 2.5 ± 0.3. The highest sensitivity of ice strength to NPs concentration is between 0.1 and 1 wt.%. In this concentration range, the increase in strength is reversely proportional to the square root of the average grain size. Experimental data fit Griffith’s relation better than Hall–Petch, so ice strength is limited by cracks with the length proportional to average grain size.