I know many would laugh at this but I think a pykrete carrier could still be useful in some circumstances. It has a couple of advantages, one being that it would be more resistant to anti ship missiles and that im not really sure that its upkeep would be more costly than a steel hull given how steel corrodes. This stuff melts very slowly and is actually tougher than steel.
Would a Pykrete Carrier still be a viable option?
- Thread starter lucinator
- Start date
pykrete was theorised about 10 years ago and didn't go far.
there are better more flexible (literally) solutions.
The hull needs an outside insulating layer which will probably require as much maintenance as a steel hull. A build up of melt water between the insulating layer and the hull could be catastrophic if the insulation is a ‘membrane’ design.
Pykrete melts slowly, but it weakens first and becomes susceptible to plastic flows (permanent deformation). Plastic flow is one of the biggest problem with Pykrete, and was never satisfactorily resolved before the project was cancelled. So the areas you can operate in will be a function of the on-board refrigeration unit’s ability to keep the melting from starting.
Heat disposal is the biggest problem for a Pykrete ship, everything generates heat, starting with the powerplant and the refrigeration systems, so you need to minimize the size of both. As a pure POOB estimate to get an extra kilowatt of power available for operations you will need to install 3 kW of generation, with the extra 2 kW will be used for additional heat disposal.