State Partnership Program

Video by Jeff Chao, Christopher Kieffer

Ice adhesion basic research

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center

Oct. 1, 2020 | 4:48

Icing threatens the safety and success of military and civilian operations around the globe, as the rapid accumulation of ice can hinder mobility, damage infrastructure and impede communications. Existing treatments are either both costly and labor intensive or limited in their scope because little is known about the underlying scientific principles that make passive coatings effective.

That’s why a team of ERDC researchers is conducting innovative basic research to unravel the physical processes that govern ice adhesion. Their research will create a fundamental understanding of the microscale mechanisms that control how ice attaches to various surfaces, paving the way for future development of new protective and advanced materials and the expansion of existing treatments to broader applications and other fields.

This project is another example of how ERDC’s basic research is solving the impossible problems of our future battlespace.