I agree with the above, but now we have two topics essentially the same. Of course this one hasnt turned Mad yet!
lets try to keep this topic unmad!
Well just thought I’d let y’all know that I’m doing a project on Pykrete in school. Today I made a gallon block of Pykrete and a gallon block of regular ice. I’ll post more pictures when it finishes freezing.
Pykrete left, ice right.
I used ground up newspaper instead of sawdust (newspaper is technically wood pulp, and sawdust is just too darn hard to get). I used about a 40% pulp and 60% water mixture, which is much more than the original recipe called for (14%/86%).
Cool! I think pykrete mixture you made looks like pykrete. But what are you going to do with the pykrete after its frozen?
actually I just saw some real pykrete, it looks a bit more different then yours D man. more woody like.
Cool-keep us posted!
Any news of the pykrete?
Well it hardened rather quickly, I thought it would take weeks, but for the most part it’s about 80% forzen. There is still some water that hasn’t frozen, so maybe by tomorrow it’ll be done.
I’m going to hit it with a hammer (my school doens’t allow the use of firearms in projects :\ ) and then I’m going to take a seperate block (yet to be made) and leave it outside and see how long it can keep its shape.
It looks a lot different than regular Pykrete because as I said, this is not sawdust, it’s shredded newspaper. It’s a grayish colour and it looks almost like concrete (there’re little spots of colour that stick out because of the pictures in the newpaper).
surely you can acquire sawdust at any pet shop?
Probably, but I don’t yet have a drivers licence, and my parents weren’t home to take me, so I just used a blender, water, and some newspaper. It should create the same effect (paper is made of wood pulp, you just have to reduce it to it’s original form).
Plus I don’t have to pay for the newspaper (I know that it isn’t free, but I don’t have to spend money out of my wallet to get it).
Interesting project, even though your not using the exact recipe for pykrete it’ll still prove/disprove that adding newspaper will give the ice a greater structural integrity. I’ll be interested to see the results.
i have been tryingt o remember what that ice was called i watched a thing about it on the history channel
But, how are you going to get the pykrete and the ice out? its in a plastic jug. :|, cutting it out perhaps?
Probably :?
Easy!
Put it in the oven on a low heat overnight and it should pour out quite easily. Then all you have to do is pour it into a plastic container and freeze it over several days, and you have your pykrete. It’ll be easy to get out too - simply put it in the oven…
That is exactly what I’m going to do.
I cut it out today, and most of it looks like it’s frozen, but I can not really be sure of the middle (yesterday I actually started cutting it, but there was a weak spot in the ice and I could poke my finger in it and feel most of the center). Just to be safe, I’ll do it tomorrow afternoon.
Please, let me know how is the texture and te hardness of it.
Or post some pics of that. :arrow:
Well I took it out today. The results were quite remarkable. I had two types of hammers, one regular one and one with a point. The regular one made slight indentations in the Pykrete, but never chipped anything off. The spike penetrated pretty well, but the Pykrete did not crumble. I then tossed the block into the air and it hit the concrete. After a few times, a good sized chip came off. The block of regular ice pretty much shattered after the first hit. I’ll post some pictures later.
As for the texture, it feels like gritty ice basically. Some parts were a little dried out (the handle) and the paper was flaking off.
When I “heard” gritty ice, I imagined somewhat a block of ice mixed with sand. Hmmmm so the pykrete does work!
Congratulations! You now understand why composite materials are used.