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Years later, I suppose I have to accept the impracticality of the concept, even though there's still that sneaky thought that it's a pretty cool idea. [Pun probably intended, but why not...?] However, reading the various postings that fly around the net, I see a certain amount of mythtifcation [Eh — I'm doing it again] on the topic of Geoffrey Pyke, Pykrete, and Habakkuk, so it's probably worth coming down to earth a bit and checking some history.
As I understand it, Pyke simply conceived of using plain ice to build a ship — probably thinking that blocks would be carved from the Arctic ice sheet. After all, icebergs do survive fairly well into temperate waters, and perhaps if they were refrigerated and fitted with propulsion...
Another misunderstanding that ought to be squelched is that Pykrete was used in the Lake Patricia pilot project in the Canadian Rockies. In fact that test 'ship' was built from plain ice cut from the lake — the experiment was under way (early 1943) before Pykrete was thought of. See the link above, and there is also another article on the project that has a good description of it and the actual time sequence. So the idea that it was Pykrete that made it "last through the summer" is pure nonsense. That might be more to do with the refrigeration equipment installed! (Though that was turned off before long.) Anyway, a large mass of ice is quite good at surviving if it is well insulated: we kept the icebox in my uncle's cabin, at much-lower-altitude Lake of the Woods, stocked from Ken Whitie's icehouse across the lake, which also was simply filled with ice from the lake during winter and provided for the community all summer.
I tend personally to seriously doubt the story of Mountbatten dumping a chunk of the stuff into Churchill's bath. For a start, as the project had been initiated — with Churchill's blessing — before Pykrete was invented, he wouldn't have needed to convince him that way. As the true properties of Pykrete aren't that magical, it wouldn't have proved much. The tale could be true, but the only reference I've heard of is David Lampe's book on Pyke. I never heard it from my father, or from any other source.
(I also notice that Lampe is quoted in the Wikipedia article on the subject as claiming that the name 'Habakkuk' was from Voltaire's "Candide", not the biblical character. As the word does not actually appear anywhere in that text, this seems just a tiny bit unlikely! I begin to suspect that Lampe's book is a nice bit of creative writing, with occasional correspondence to fact...)
The 'one-b-two-ks' (well, actually three, but I don't count the last...(:-)) is 'biblically' correct, and both Goodeve and Perutz conform to it. However, the spelling seems to have been corrupted at some point in the chaos of wartime — quite probably by Pyke hmself. In most of the actual wartime documents it is in fact spelt 'Habbakuk', exemplified by the draughtsman's labelling of the project drawing. [In earlier editions of this page I claimed, based on the sources I knew, that the project was titled the 'proper' way. A visit to the National Archives to read the originals proved I was wrong.]
To date I've only done very quick and rough experimenting (taking the newsprint approach). My samples were mostly ice-cube sized [for probably obvious reasons]. With those, I could see no superiority of Pykrete as far as melt-resistance goes. Letting two 40g samples — one plain ice and the other Pykrete — sit side by side on absorbent paper, the Pykrete retained its shape and weight while the ice melted away, but in fact the Pykrete turned out to have liquefied all the way through when 1/4 of the ice was left — it just didn't 'slump'. (This is in line with expectation: the only thing the added pulp can really do to slow melting is provide insulation, and there wouldn't be much of that with the quantities I was using.)
On the other hand, in the matter of strength there was no comparison. I could hit a piece of Pykrete fairly hard with a hammer and it might or might not split, but it never shattered. A much lighter blow on a similar sized ice chunk was enough to result in very-satisfying complete demolition...
The assertion that "a one-inch column of Pykrete could support a car" I would like to have better evidence for [or even some! Where did that claim come from anyway? I guess from the statement that Pykrete has a "Compression Strength of 3000 lbs/sq. in."], but it does appear that the stuff is at least a much better construction material than ice! It might be really interesting to see what could be done with it in regions where ice is already a feasible building material. This all does not make Habakkuk itself any less of a fantasy, of course. Even with 'Super Ice', you still need all that refrigeration and insulation. And of course if wood pulp really does block heat transfer, it wouldn't make that refrigeration any easier! (The refrigerant pipes have to extract heat through the pulp, too.)
Enough of the department's projects were successful, though, (like the Hedgehog and Double-L Sweep) that they did contribute to the war effort in a major way. How do you tell which crazy ideas will work, and which won't? Only by pursuing them a ways, I guess. I think I'll accept Dad's argument. though, that Habakkuk was pursued just a little too far.
He clarifies a lot of details, in particular the actual development of Pykrete. He met Pyke first in the Spring of 1942, but learned nothing about ice-ships until more than six months later. The effect of adding wood pulp (or even cotton wool) to ice was originally noted by two researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn NY, Hermann Mark and Walter Hohenstein. Pyke found their report "hard to understand", so he passed it on to Perutz to investigate. Perutz had no idea at the time what the stuff was needed for. He does say, though, that he himself was the one who later tagged it with the name "Pykrete".
The essay includes the full text of Churchill's original memo on Habakkuk. From that it's clear that the original concept was simply to cut 'bergships' out of the Arctic ice, or else to freeze water in situ there. It was only when the flaws in that idea (like ice fracturing under its own weight if lifted by waves!) became apparent that Pykrete entered the picture.
Perutz also locates the incident of a ricocheting bullet hitting a senior officer to a briefing in the UK — months before the high-level Quebec meeting in August 1943 — and the gunman wasn't Mountbatten, just a naval associate of Perutz. The victim was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (not injured, just displeased...).
• In 1946, Perutz gave a talk to the British Glaciology Society on Pykrete
and its properties. This has some actual research-established facts
so I have summarized it here.
I remember an alleyway in University College London, that had a stern notice: "Load on these pavings must not exceed 150 lbs per sq. ft.". Well, let's see — the average student probably weighs at least 150 lbs, and with both feet on the ground covers not much more than half a square foot... Oops! As scores of students strode down that alley every day, I don't know why we didn't all disappear into the unknown depths!
I recently tracked down an article (from way back… 1953!) on the properties of wood pulp, and from reading it I imagine wood pulp is likely to be superior to sawdust as reinforcement. This is because the fibres in the pulp (pine or spruce) are typically 3 to 5 millimetres long, much larger that the usual diameter of a sawdust grain (and where the fibres might be firmly bound in lignin anyway).
Anybody up for some experimenting…?
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