The Insane Idea to Create an Aircraft Carrier Out of Ice
The ice-ship might be cheap to manufacture, but using ice had a significant drawback: it melts. ... A prototype almost 18 meters long and weighing about 1000 tons was built in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, on the shore of Patricia Island. The cooling system was effective and maintained the prototype throughout the summer period. ... By chance, the scientists at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University [now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering] made an interesting discovery. They created a mixture of about 14 percent of sawdust and 86 percent of water then froze it. The resulting material turned out to be 14 times stronger than ordinary ice. The sawdust in this mixture prevented severe melting.
