Ice adhesion of PDMS surfaces with balanced elastic and water-repellent properties

AbstractPassive icephobic surfaces can provide a cost and energy efficient solution to many icing problems that are currently handled with expensive active strategies. Water-repellent surface treatments are promising candidates for this goal, but commonly studied systems, such as superhydrophobic surfaces and Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS), still face challenges in the stability and durability of their properties in icing environments. In this work, environmental icing conditions are simulated using an Icing Wind Tunnel, and ice adhesion is evaluated with a Centrifugal Adhesion Test. We show that superhydrophobic coral-like Silicone Nanofilament (SNF) coatings exhibit extremely low ice adhesion, to the point of spontaneous ice detachment, and good durability against successive icing cycles. Moreover, SNFs-based SLIPS show stably low ice adhesion for the whole duration of the icing test. Stability of surface properties in a cold environment is further investigated with water wettability at sub-zero surface temperature, highlighting the effect of surface chemistry on superhydrophobicity under icing conditions.

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A Critical Review of Evaluation Methods of Ice Adhesion Strength on the Surface of Materials

23rd International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Volume 3 ◽

10.1115/omae2004-51264 ◽

2004 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mohammad R. Kasaai ◽

Masoud Farzaneh

Keyword(s):

Adhesion Strength ◽

Critical Review ◽

Water Repellent ◽

Test Procedures ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Nano Indentation ◽

Lap Shear ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Long Time ◽

Ice Adhesion

Several techniques have already been proposed to determine ice adhesion strength. This study made a critical review of the existing methods and proposed three other techniques for ice/substrate systems, where the latter techniques have already been used to other adhesive/substrate systems. In this study, these methods are compared for their performance and limitations, with a selection of the most promising ones. The main conclusions are: in most techniques, test procedures required a long time while showing a low degree of reproducibility. Cohesive and adhesive failures, as well as a combination of both, were observed in the measurements. Macroscopic or microscopic/nanoscopic scale tests were used to evaluate ice adhesion strength Micro/nano scale tests using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) or nano indentation instrument can be used to estimate the nature and surface energy of water-repellent materials, and identify materials with low-ice adhesion. Among various methods the combination of AFM /nano-indentation technique with either lap-shear or combined lap-shear and tensile modes should be the most powerful.

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