HANOVER, N.H.- With winter weather approaching in colder climates, travelers face daily frustrations of scraping away the ice clinging to steps and vehicle glass surfaces. There are also impending risks of power outages caused by ice storms. For the military, icy conditions threaten the safety and success of global operations by severing communication and utility networks, halting transportation, and interfering with visibility.
For one inventor at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center’s (ERDC’s) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), such ice adhesion scenarios are rich with research questions, leading to her invention, which enables high-fidelity control over ice growth on surfaces for ice adhesion research.
Research materials engineer Dr. Emily Asenath-Smith received a patent in August 2022 for her invention, “Vertical Draw System and Method for Surface Adhesion of Crystalline Materials,” a foundational component of her ice adhesion research program.