Re: Innovative methods (SEACRETE)

[Rick Lucertini <empiricus@sprint.ca>]

Dave Everett wrote:

> At 12:58 13-03-99 -0800, you wrote:
> >Dave Irons asked about innovative methods to build a submersible or
> >habitat. [snip]  The method was to
> >build a mesh of conductive material (like steel) in the shape of the
> >desired walls and submerge it in sea water, then apply a small charge to
> >it over a period of weeks (or months).  The dissolved material in the
> >sea water would "plate out" on the mesh and eventually build up a wall
> >of great strength.

> As fas as
> plating goes, to get plating you need to apply a voltage of greater than
> 1.26V, this however would simply plate the metal out of one electrode into
> the other.

Hi, Dave and All

The "plating" analogy is a bit of a misnomer.  The accreted material is actually
minerals that have been leached out of the sea water.  This is why the process is
successful only in the ocean.  The salt content allows for high electrical
conductivity.

The accretion is in fact very hard.  As for brittleness, I'd have to dig out the
original paper.  I had written to the author about building a pressure hull out of
it.  He didn't seem to have any knowledge in this area so, I decided not to pursue it
beyond that one letter.

If I can find the original paper, I'll post the details for the group.



--
Rick Lucertini
empiricus@sprint.ca
(Vancouver, Canada)